Author Description

This research report examines the role of ethnicity in politics. The concept of ethnicity encompasses at least four distinct dimensions: nationality identification, religious identification, old vs. new ethnic stock, and racial membership. In the national sample analyzed, several interesting patterns of ethnic differentiation emerged. First, none of the dimensions of ethnicity was found to be very strongly related to political behavior. In general, religious identification had comparatively the strongest and most consistent impact on the partisan behavior and the issue attitudes of whites. It was then argued that these generally weak relationships might be strengthened once controls for education ("class") and size of place of residence were instituted. Once these relevant controls were introduced, the impact of ethnicity on the political behavior of individuals in each of the control categories did increase over that found in the national sample as a whole. However, there was no uniform decrease in the importance of ethnicity on the behavior of individuals with higher education or individuals outside the central cities. The paper points out the importance of politics between regions in the country. Subsectioning the nation into smaller regions may in the long run be the most productive strategy for further study of ethnic politics. (Author/RM)