1. The ambiguities of political opportunity: political claims-making of Russian-Jewish immigrants in New York City.
- Author
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Soehl, Thomas
- Subjects
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RUSSIAN national character , *RUSSIAN Jews , *AMERICAN Jews , *ETHNICITY & politics , *IMMIGRANTS , *JEWISH identity , *COMMUNITIES , *UNITED States political parties , *HISTORY , *MASS mobilization , *JEWISH organizations , *POLITICAL participation ,NEW York City history, 1951- - Abstract
How, and as what, are immigrant minorities incorporated into the political process? A set of prominent approaches focus on the political opportunity structure that immigrants encounter. Although promising in many aspects, these approaches fail to consider the internal heterogeneity of both immigrant populations and opportunity structures. This is partly a result of taking ethnic groups rather than political entrepreneurs as the unit of analysis and of not disaggregating the political context properly. I show how Russian-Jewish immigrant political entrepreneurs in New York City used very different strategies of ethnic mobilization, each emphasizing a different ethnic cleavage: one making claims in the name of Russians, the other downplaying Russianness and highlighting the Jewish identity dimension. Both strategies had good chances at success thus illustrating that political opportunity structures may encourage different claims-making strategies at the same time. Ethno-political entrepreneurs navigate complex political landscapes that are ex-ante only partially transparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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