Psychology

Immigrants' cultural identities as sources of civic engagement

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Immigrant parents (first generation) and adolescents (second generation) from El Salvador and India (N = 80) took part in interviews on civic engagement. The immigrants were almost unanimous in regarding civic engagement as important. They also were engaged themselves, more so at the community than the political level. One third of immigrants were engaged in community activities that specifically had a cultural focus or occurred through cultural organizations, and the comparable number for political activities was 25%. Cultural motives (i.e., a cultural or immigrant sense of self) were twice as likely to be mentioned as sources of engagement rather than disengagement. Qualitative analyses of these cultural motives revealed seven engagement themes (e.g., cultural tradition of service) and three of disengagement (e.g., ethnic exclusion).

Publication Title

Applied Developmental Science

Publication Date

2008

Volume

12

Issue

2

First Page

74

Last Page

83

ISSN

1088-8691

DOI

10.1080/10888690801997069

Keywords

cultural identity, immigrants, social participation, community services; POLITICAL participation, qualitative research, social isolation, El Salvador, India

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