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Title: Social Ties and Industrial Decline: Evidence from Historical Fossil Fuel Busts
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2021
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Abstract: A burgeoning literature, often focused on high-status ethnic groups, ties industrial decline to an exacerbation of ethnic parochialism and accentuation of identity group loyalties. I argue that for marginalized ethnic groups, the deepest intergroup divisions emerge not following industrial decline, but rather in contexts of industrial stability. I develop this theory in reference to migrant groups. When an industry is stable, economic optimism and resources spread through migrant networks concentrated in that industry, bolstering migrants’ confidence in their economic security and dissuading investments in political assimilation. These gains dissipate amid decline, leading migrants to increasingly ally with outside groups promising access to political rents previously out of reach. I apply this theory to the case of European immigrants in the early twentieth century United States. Analyses using linked census records offer support for these intuitions. These findings help extend and refine the literature on industrial decline and identity politics.
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Authors: Zucker, Noah
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Natural Resource Management
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