ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses five sets of factors previously found to influence minority group political participation—ethnic group culture, socioeconomic status, demographic background, socio-psychological attitudes, and legal constraints. It focuses on the concepts of ethnicity, panethnicity and the roles of socioeconomic status and socio-psychological factors in the shaping of political identity among Asian Americans. To explain the distinctive patterns of political participation of racial/ethnic minorities, a common approach in survey-based research is to attribute the patterns to a composite group culture variable as denoted by one's self- identified or ascribed race, language, religion, or national origin. In addition to socioeconomic factors, demographic factors specific to the immigrant population such as nativity, age, length of stay and gender may have a substantial impact on participation. The role of gender in non-white ethnic group political participation has been controversial because of the implied conflicts between feminism and cultural nationalism.
