Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T11:56:10.574Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exit over Voice in Dominican Ethnoracial Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Danilo Antonio Contreras
Danilo Antonio Contreras*
Affiliation:
College of the Holy Cross
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article examines the effect of perceived ethnoracial identity on electoral politics in the Dominican Republic and provides an explanation for the low salience of race and ethnicity in political behavior in Latin America. I argue that, under certain conditions, individuals will deal with ethnoracial discrimination and stratification through exit rather than voice —that is, they will reclassify their way out of marginalized ethnoracial categories instead of voting for candidates or parties that share their ethnoracial identities. This tends to be the case where ethnoracial group identity is inchoate and group boundaries are permeable. I also argue that where ethnoracial group loyalties are weak and immigration is widespread, citizens may emphasize national origin over race or ethnicity. Findings from an original field experiment and survey in Santo Domingo show that candidates did not consistently support candidates that shared their ethnoracial attributes, but they did slightly favor candidates perceived as white. Respondents strongly discriminated against candidates of Haitian origin.

Resumen

Resumen

Este artículo examina el efecto que ejerce la percepción de identidad etno-racial en el comportamiento político en la República Dominicana e intenta explicar la baja incidencia de la identidad etno-racial en la política electoral en América Latina. Se argumenta que en sociedades en las que los límites de clasificación etno-racial son porosos y donde los grupos etno-raciales carecen de identidades consolidadas hay una tendencia hacia evadir identificación con grupos marginados en vez de participar en política de tilde etno-racial que afronte niveles de estratificación social. Los resultados de una encuesta y de un experimento de campo realizados en Santo Domingo, República Dominicana indican que, conforme a la tesis que se avanza, los atributos etno-raciales inciden poco en la evaluación de candidatos, salvo en la evaluación de candidatos de origen haitiano.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , 2016 , pp. 202 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

The author would like to thank Catherine Boone, Henry Dietz, Jim Mahon, Tasha Philpot, the Latin American Working Group in the Department of Government at University of Texas at Austin, and Raúl Madrid, in particular, for their contributions to this article.

References

Aguilar-Pariente, Rosario 2011 “Social and Political Consequences of Stereotypes Related to Racial Phenoytpes in Mexico.” Working Paper, CIDE DETEP-230. Mexico City: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas.Google Scholar
Aguilar-Pariente, Rosario, Cunow, Saul, Desposato, Scott, and Barone, Leonardo S. 2015 “Ballot Structure, Candidate Race, and Vote Choice in Brazil.” Latin American Research Review 50 (3): 175–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, George Reid 2004 Afro-Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bailey, Stanley R. 2009 Legacies of Race: Identities, Attitudes, and Politics in Brazil. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barth, Fredrik 1969 Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Cultural Difference. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Battle, Martin, and Seely, Jennifer C. 2010 “It's All Relative: Modeling Candidate Support in Benin.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 16 (1): 42–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Betances, Emilio 1995 State and Society in the Dominican Republic. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo 1997 “Rethinking Racism.” American Sociological Review 62 (3): 465–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo 2006 Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo 2009 “Are the Americas ‘Sick with Racism’ or Is It a Problem at the Poles? A Reply to Christina A. Sue.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 32 (6): 1071–1082.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broockman, David 2013 “Black Politicians Are More Intrinsically Motivated to Advance Blacks' Interests: A Field Experiment Manipulating Political Incentives.” American Journal of Political Science 57 (3): 532–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers 2004 Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Candelario, Ginetta E. B. 2007 Black behind the Ears: Dominican Racial Identity from Museums to Beauty Shops. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Chandra, Kanchan 2006 “What Is Ethnic Identity and Does It Matter?” Annual Review of Political Science 9:97–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Michael 1994 Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Degler, Carl N. 1971 Neither Black Nor White. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
De la Fuente, Alejandro 1999 “Myths of Racial Democracy: Cuba, 1900–1912.” Latin American Research Review 34 (3): 39–73.Google Scholar
Derby, Lauren 2003 “National Identity and the Idea of Value in the Dominican Republic.” In Blacks, Coloureds, and National Identity in Nineteenth-Century Latin America, edited by Naro, Nancy Priscilla, 5–37. London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Dore Cabral, Carlos 1995 “Encuesta Gallup: La población dominicana es más antihaitiana que racista.” Rumbo no. 69:8–12.Google Scholar
Dunning, Thad 2009 “Race, Class, and Voter Preferences in Brazil.” Paper presented at the Latin American Studies Association meeting, October 6–10, Toronto, Canada.Google Scholar
Dunning, Thad, and Harrison, Lauren 2010 “Cross-Cutting Cleavages and Ethnic Voting: An Experimental Study of Cousinage in Mali.” American Political Science Review 104 (1): 21–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Espinal, Rosario, Hartlyn, Jonathan, and Morgan, Jana 2006 “Performance Still Matters: Explaining Trust in Government in the Dominican Republic.” Comparative Political Studies 39 (2): 200–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fennema, Meindert, and Loewenthal, Troetje 1987 La construcción de raza y nación en la República Dominicana. Santo Domingo: Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Editora Universitaria.Google Scholar
Flores, René, and Telles, Edward 2012 “Social Stratification in Mexico: Disentangling Color, Ethnicity, and Class.” American Sociological Review 77 (3): 486–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franco, Franklin J. 1969 Los negros, los mulatos, y la nación dominicana. Santo Domingo: Editora Nacional.Google Scholar
Freyre, Gilberto 1946 The Masters and the Slaves: A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization. Translated by Putnam, Samuel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Gay, Claudine 2004 “Putting Race in Context: Identifying the Environmental Determinants of Black Racial Attitudes.” American Political Science Review 98 (4): 547–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Marvin 1964 Patterns of Race in the Americas. New York: Walker and Company.Google Scholar
Hartlyn, Jonathan 1998 The Struggle for Democratic Politics in the Dominican Republic. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Helg, Aline 1990 “Race in Argentina and Cuba, 1880–1930: Theory, Policies, and Popular Reaction.” In The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870–1940, edited by Graham, Richard, 37–61. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Henríquez-Gratereaux, Federico 1994 Negros de mentira y blancos de verdad. Santo Domingo: Editora Taller C. por A.Google Scholar
Hernández, Tanya Katerí 2013 Racial Subordination in Latin America: The Role of the State, Customary Law, and the New Civil Rights Response. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O. 1970 Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer L., and Weaver, Vesla 2007 “The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order.” Social Forces 86 (2): 643–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoetink, Harry 1970 “The Dominican Republic in the Nineteenth Century: Some Notes on Stratification, Immigration, and Race.” In Race and Class in Latin America, edited by Mörner, Magnus, 96–121. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Hooker, Juliet 2005 “Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Latin America,” Journal of Latin American Studies 37 (2): 285–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horowitz, Donald L. 1985 Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Howard, David 2001 Coloring the Nation: Race and Ethnicity in the Dominican Republic. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Howell, Susan, and Perry, H. L. 2004 “Black Mayors/White Mayors: Explaining Their Approval.” Public Opinion Quarterly 68 (1): 32–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inoa, Orlando 1999 Azúcar: Árabes, cocolos y haitianos. Santo Domingo: Editora Cole.Google Scholar
Ishiyama, John 2010 “Ethnic Partisanship in Ethiopia.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 16 (3–4): 290–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Richard 1994 “Rethinking Ethnicity: Identity, Categorization, and Power.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 17 (2): 197–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larrazábal Blanco, Carlos 1975 Los negros y la esclavitud en Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo: Editora de Colores, S.A.Google Scholar
Loveman, Mara 1999 “Is ‘Race’ Essential? A comment on Bonilla-Silva.” American Sociological Review 64 (6): 891–898.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loveman, Mara 2014 National Colors: Racial Classification and the State in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madrid, Raúl 2012 The Rise of Ethnic Politics in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez-Vergne, Teresita 2005 Nation and Citizen in the Dominican Republic, 1880–1916. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Marx, Anthony 1998 Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of the United States, South Africa, and Brazil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mayes, April J. 2014 The Mulatto Republic: Class, Race, and Dominican National Identity. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClain, Paula D., Carew, Jessica D. Johnson, Walton, Eugene Jr., and Watts, Candis S. 2009 “Group Membership, Group Identity, and Group Consciousness: Measures of Racial Identity in American Politics?” Annual Review of Political Science 12:471–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKelvey, Richard D., and Zavoina, William 1975 “A Statistical Model for the Analysis of Ordinal Level Dependent Variables.” Journal of Mathematical Sociology 4 (1): 103–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, Gladys 2009 “Campaign Strategies of Afro-Brazilian Politicians: A Preliminary Analysis.” Latin American Politics and Society 51 (3): 111–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moya Pons, Frank 1992 Manual de historia dominicana. Santo Domingo: Caribbean Publishers.Google Scholar
Nuñez, Manuel 1990 El ocaso de la nación dominicana. Santo Domingo: Editora Alfa y Omega.Google Scholar
Paschel, Tianna 2013 “The Beautiful Faces of My Black People': Race, Ethnicity and the Politics of Colombia's 2005 Census.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 36 (10): 1544–1563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Philpot Tasha S., and Walton, Hanes Jr. 2007 “One of Our Own: Black Female Candidates and the Voters Who Support Them.” American Journal of Political Science 51 (1): 49–62.Google Scholar
Pierson, Donald 1942 Negroes in Brazil: A Study of Race Contact at Bahia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rabushka, Alvin, and Shepsle, Kenneth 1972 Politics in Plural Societies: A Theory of Democratic Instability. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill.Google Scholar
Reeves, Keith 1997 Voting Hopes or Fears?: White Voters, Black Candidates and Racial Politics in America. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Roth, Wendy 2012 Race Migrations: Latinos and the Cultural Transformation of Race. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sagás, Ernesto 2000 Race and Politics in the Dominican Republic. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Mark Q. 2006 Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sawyer, Mark, Peña, Yesilernis, and Sidanius, Jim 2004 “Cuban Exceptionalism: Group-Based Hierarchy and the Dynamics of Patriotism in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.” Dubois Review 1 (1): 93–114.Google Scholar
Schwartzman, Luisa Farah 2007 “Does Money Whiten? Intergenerational Changes in Racial Classification in Brazil.” American Sociological Review 72 (6): 940–963.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheriff, Robin E. 2001 Dreaming Equality: Color, Race, and Racism in Urban Brazil. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Sidanius, Jim, Peña, Yesilernis, and Sawyer, Mark 2001 “Inclusionary Discrimination: Pigmentocracy and Patriotism in the Dominican Republic.” Political Psychology 22 (4): 27–851.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigelman, Carol K., Sigelman, Lee, Walkosz, Barbara J., and Nitz, Michael 1995 “Black Candidates, White Voters: Understanding Racial Bias in Political Perceptions.” American Journal of Political Science 39 (1): 243–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simmons, Kimberly Eison 2009 Reconstructing Racial Identity and the African Past in the Dominican Republic. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri 1981 Human Groups and Social Categories Studies in Human Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tannenbaum, Frank 1947 Slave and Citizen. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Tate, Katherine 2003 Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representativeness in the U.S. Congress. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Telles, Edward 2014 Pigmentocracies: Ethnicity, Race, and Color in Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Telles, Edward, and Bailey, Stanley 2013 “Understanding Latin American Beliefs about Racial Inequality.” American Journal of Sociology 118 (6): 1559–1595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Telles, Edward, and Flores, René 2013 “Not Just Color: Whiteness, Nation and Status in Latin America.” Hispanic American Historical Review 93 (3): 411–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Telles, Edward, and Paschel, Tianna 2014 “Who Is Black, White, or Mixed Race: How Skin Color, Status, and Nation Shape Racial Classification in Latin America.” American Journal of Sociology 120 (3): 864–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Telles, Edward, and Steele, Lisa 2012 “Pigmentocracy in the Americas: How Is Educational Attainment Related to Skin Color?” In AmericasBarometer Insights Series: Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), edited by Smith, Amy Erica, Seligson, Mitchell A., and Zechmeister, Elizabeth J. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.Google Scholar
Terkildsen, Nayda 1993 “When White Voters Evaluate Black Candidates: The Processing Implications of Candidate Skin Color, Prejudice, and Self-Monitoring.” American Journal of Political Science 37 (4): 1032–1053.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolentino Dipp, Hugo 1974 Raza e historia en Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo: Editora de la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo.Google Scholar
Torres-Saillant, Silvio 1998 “The Tribulations of Blackness: Stages in Dominican Racial Identity,” Latin American Perspectives 25 (3): 126–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torres-Saillant, Silvio 1999 Introduction to Dominican Blackness. CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Research Monograph Series. New York: City University of New York.Google Scholar
Van Cott, Donna Lee 2005 From Movements to Parties in Latin America: The Evolution of Ethnic Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vega, Bernardo 1988 Trujillo y Haití, Vol. 1, 1930–1937. Santo Domingo: Fundación Cultural Dominicana.Google Scholar
Wimmer, Andreas 2008 “The Making and Unmaking of Ethnic Boundaries: A Multilevel Process Theory.” American Journal of Sociology 113 (4): 970–1022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yashar, Deborah J. 2005 Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Rise of Indigenous Movements and the Postliberal Challenge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar