Immigration and the American Ethos

Morris Levy is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Southern California. Matthew Wright is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia.

• 1. What do Americans want from immigration policy, and why?; 2. Civic fairness and group-centrism; 3. Functional assimilation, humanitarianism and support for legal admissions; 4. Civic fairness and the legal-ill; Bibliography; Index.

'In recent years, immigration has become a front-burner political issue in the US. A growing body of research argues that Americans' attitudes about immigration are fundamentally about their views on different ethnic and racial groups, but in this far-reaching and illuminating book, Levy and Wright provide a sweeping challenge to group-oriented accounts of public opinion on immigration and demonstrate convincingly that values play a central role. This book methodically builds a timely, compelling alternative to group-centered accounts of attitudes, one that will reshape how scholars and citizens alike think about immigration and public opinion in general.' Daniel J. Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania