Amor, Que Piensas?: Spousal Political Socialization in Mexican Immigrant Communities

AbstractThis article examines the role of spousal political socialization among Mexican immigrants in the United States. Political socialization literature has often dismissed the socializing influences of spouses or significant others due to a focus on native born respondents. In immigrant communities, however, spousal political socialization plays a more vital role given the presence of a non-native born spouse. The result is a distinct dynamic that influences immigrant political socialization in previously under-explored ways. I use the theory of multi-tiered membership to examine the interactions of spouses within Mexican households, and immigrants specifically, to explain their subsequent informal and formal membership in the US. I use quantitative data from the Developing Civic Actors survey to model these experiences. I hypothesize that Mexican origin households where one spouse is an immigrant will rely more heavily on their spouses for political information and communication, compared to native b...