Economic Insecurity, Prejudicial Stereotypes, and Public Opinion on Immigration Policy

An infamous yet fictional American once said that in the United States we are all free to live in our own separate sections. Archie Bunker, the mouthpiece for this observation, expressed prejudicial attitudes not only toward blacks, but out-groups in general. If the popular television series, All in the Family, had lasted, the character Carroll O'Connor made famous would today be leveling his caustic aim at immigrant groups and calling for Pat Buchanan's great wall. Many supporters of immigration restriction could indeed be characterized as Archie Bunker types. But more respectable restrictionists never argue for reducing immigration on blatantly racist or nativist grounds. From the content of elite discourse and from the rich academic debate on the costs and benefits of immigration, observers would likely conclude that the main rationale for restricting immigration was an economic one.1 But what lies