CHINESE-AMERICANS’ POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT: FOCUSING ON THE IMPACT OF MOBILIZATION
CHINESE-AMERICANS’ POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT: FOCUSING ON THE IMPACT OF MOBILIZATION

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the factors that explain Chinese-Americans’ political engagement. Many studies of Chinese-Americans have focused on areas other than their political attitudes/behavior and have been mainly conducted on populations outside the U.S. The present study pays special attention to the effect of political mobilization. Drawing on segmented assimilation theory, the present study regards the mobilization of immigrants by political parties or organizations into mainstream political process as one of the contexts of reception. As a result of China’s nondemocratic political systems, Chinese immigrants might have different political values and different ideas about taking part in the political process. Thus, special efforts are needed to encourage Chinese-Americans to become more politically active. The regression results show that the mobilization variables consistently displayed a significant impact, regardless of the different modes of political engagement. Party contact encouraged nonvoting activities, voter registration, and voting among Chinese-Americans, and organization contact led to stronger interest in politics and more active participation in nonvoting activities.

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