Race and Social Problems
Volume 10, Issue 4, 2018, Pages 366-375

Beyond the Ballot: Immigrant Integration Through Civic Engagement and Advocacy (Article)

Dixon Z.* , Bessaha M.L. , Post M.
  • a Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States
  • b School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
  • c International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University, Worcester, MA, United States

Abstract

This conceptual article outlines the current literature on immigrant integration, immigrant civic engagement practices, opportunities to include other civic engagement activities into existing concepts of immigrant integration, and suggestions for future research and practice. The authors support a framework of civic and political integration of immigrants that goes beyond voting, and purposefully delineates categories that are commonly used to distinguish immigrants based on their eligibility for citizenship and participation in elections. Civic community organizing activities for all immigrants, regardless of citizenship status, can help build individual and community identity and empowerment as well as help mitigate stressors associated with immigrant feelings of social isolation. Implications for theory and practice on the role noncitizen immigrants play in the policy-making process and how they are received (or systematically left out) of this civic engagement process are also discussed. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

Advocacy civic engagement Immigrant integration Immigration Community

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85056130433&doi=10.1007%2fs12552-018-9237-1&partnerID=40&md5=d4afc8e61460d75dada88c24d237b4a4

DOI: 10.1007/s12552-018-9237-1
ISSN: 18671748
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English