Book Project

Where the American Dream Begins

Abstract: How do immigrants develop their attitudes toward the new country? What leads them to engage in politics in the host country? In my book project, I argue that interactions with the new political system provide one path for immigrants to learn how the new system works and how the government perceives and treats them, which may affect the development of political attitudes toward the new country. With a focus on immigrants’ contact with street-level bureaucrats, I argue that positive interactions with street-level bureaucrats lead immigrants to perceive their host country as responsive and trustworthy, which encourages them to engage in politics in the host country. On the other hand, I expect negative interactions with street-level bureaucrats to give the impression that the host country is unwelcoming and hostile, which discourages political activities in the host country. Drawing on data from a series of interviews and an original survey of immigrants and nonimmigrants with two embedded experiments, the study explores four questions: (1) how immigrants evaluate their bureaucratic experiences, (2) what comprises positive or negative bureaucratic interactions for immigrants, (3) whether bureaucratic interactions affect immigrant political attitudes and incorporation into the host country, and (4) what aspects of positive and negative interactions shape immigrants’ political attitudes and behaviors. The results highlight the role of bureaucratic encounters in the development of political attitudes and the decision to engage in politics in the host country among immigrants. This study demonstrates that immigrants have unique experiences with street-level bureaucrats that are distinguished from those of native-born nonimmigrants, and their encounters shape how they view the host country and whether they are successfully incorporated into the new society.