Social Distrust and Immigrant Access to Welfare Programs in the American States

Social trust ameliorates collective action problems by allowing multicultural societies to adopt more inclusive and equitable public policies directed toward newly arriving immigrants. However, existing research warns that increasing ethnic diversity from immigrant populations can undermine levels of social trust, hindering mass support for redistributive policies that empower low-income minority populations. This article examines the relationship between U.S. state-level social trust and immigrant access to social welfare programs using multilevel regression with post-stratification to estimate state-level attitudes of distrust. Distrust is found to be associated with reduced immigrant access to redistributive social programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid. Interestingly, patterns of distrust and strict immigrant welfare exclusion are more pronounced among low immigrant Southern states, while high immigrant states exhibit relatively inclusive and accommodative policies. Related Articles Turner, Robert C., and William Sharry. 2012. “From Progressive Pioneer to Nativist Crackdown: The Transformation of Immigrant Policy in Oklahoma.” Politics & Policy 40 (6): 983–1018. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00392.x/abstract Byrne, Jennifer, and Gregory C. Dixon. 2013. “Reevaluating American Attitudes toward Immigrants in the Twenty-First Century: The Role of a Multicreedal National Identity.” Politics & Policy 41 (1): 83–116. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12002/abstract Wagle, Udaya R. 2013. “The Heterogeneity Politics of the Welfare State: Changing Population Heterogeneity and Welfare State Policies in High-Income OECD Countries, 1980-2005.” Politics & Policy 41 (6): 947–984. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12053/abstract Related Media The Independent. 2015. “Have the Danes Really Found the Secret Formula to Contentment?” January 15. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/have-the-danes-really-found-the-secret-formula-to-contentment-9978699.html Gelman, Andrew. 2014. “The History of MRP Highlights Some Differences between Political Science and Epidemiology.” Statistical Modeling, Causal Interference, and Social Science. November 11. http://andrewgelman.com/2014/11/11/history-mrp-highlights-differences-political-science-epidemiology/ National Journal. 2014. “How California Is Making Life Easier for Undocumented Immigrants.” November 18. http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/population-2043/how-california-is-making-life-easier-for-undocumented-immigrants-20141118 La confianza social disminuye problemas de accion colectiva al permitir a las sociedades multiculturales adoptar politicas publicas mas inclusivas y equitativas hacia los inmigrantes recien llegados. No obstante, investigacion existente advierte que al incrementarse la diversidad etnica de la poblacion inmigrante se pueden subvertir los niveles de confianza social, obstruyendo el apoyo popular de politicas redistributivas que enpoderan poblaciones de minorias de bajo ingreso. Este articulo examina la relacion entre confianza social y aceso de inmigrantes a programas de bienestar al nivel estatal en los Estados Unidos usando regresion de multinivel con pos-estratificacion para estimar actitudes de desconfianza en el nivel estatal. Encontramos que la desconfianza esta asociada con aceso reducido de los inmigrantes a los programas sociales redistributivos, tales como Asistencia Temporal a las Familias Necesitadas (TANF por sus siglas en ingles), Suplemento de Ingreso de Seguridad Social, y Medicaid. Interesantemente, los patrones de desconfianza y la exclusion estricta de beneficios a los inmigrantes son mas pronunciados entre estados surenos de baja inmigracion mientras que estados de elevada inmigracion exhiben politicas relativamente incluyentes y adaptables.