Migrant, ethnic and racial minority electoral participation: a critical assessment

Abstract

This article critically assesses how North American and European sociological literature explains migrant, ethnic and racial (MER) minorities’ electoral participation (registration on electoral lists and voting). It highlights three main controversies around this issue. First, it looks at how models that track the electoral participation of MER minorities by focusing on socio-economic resources have been increasingly challenged by models that take into account migration and generational factors. Second, it looks at how different models debate the collective dynamics of minority groups within host countries and insist on the importance of factors such as group consciousness, the role of minority-based organisations, and the minority candidate and neighbourhood effects in determining electoral participation. Third, it deals with variations in the gaps between MER minority and national majority turnout at elections across countries and the macro-structural and institutional factors that may account for these variations. Future research would greatly benefit from comparative and intersectional perspectives and from using the analytical tools of political socialisation to investigate more in depth the role of individual trajectories and of political and social context.