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Full-Text Articles in Social Work

American Identity And Attitudes Toward English Language Policy Initiatives, Carlos Garcia, Loretta E. Bass Mar 2007

American Identity And Attitudes Toward English Language Policy Initiatives, Carlos Garcia, Loretta E. Bass

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Relatively little is known about what individual-level factors drive Americans' attitudes toward offering services to immigrants. Using national-level data and logistic regressions, we examine what factors co-vary with whether respondents agree or disagree with specific policy initiatives regarding support for English language use for immigrants. We then examine what factors are related to whether respondents agree that tax money should be used to fund English classes for immigrant children and adults. We find that age, race, and general warmth toward undocumented immigrants predict English-only attitudes, and that marital status, education, and warmth toward undocumented immigrants predict attitudes toward the use …


Language Barriers & Perceptions Of Bias: Ethnic Differences In Immigrant Encounters With The Welfare System, Philip Kretsedemas Dec 2005

Language Barriers & Perceptions Of Bias: Ethnic Differences In Immigrant Encounters With The Welfare System, Philip Kretsedemas

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article demonstrates why research on immigrant language barriers should account for local variations in the way these barriers are experienced by different immigrant groups. It makes the argument that variations in language barriers experienced by immigrant groups are often reflective of differences in the local migration histories and socio-economic status of these groups. These themes are illustrated by discussing the findings of a comparative survey of welfare service barriers experienced by Haitian and Hispanic welfare clients in Miami-Dade county. Secondary data on South Florida migration patterns is also used to explain disparities in the bilingual fluency of welfare caseworkers, …