This paper replicates and extends Sampson et al.'s (2005) collective efficacy explanation of civic action events to ethnic communities formed through international migration. It examines political, social movement, and civic collective action of Hmong Americans in Minneapolis–St. Paul through a content analysis of events reported in one of the community's ethnic newspapers from 2002 to 2011 (N = 541). Initially a dispersed group of refugees from Laos, by the early 2000s, 25 percent of all Hmong Americans lived in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. Most (68 percent) of their collective action is for civic engagement, not politics or protest. This civic engagement is mostly for socioeconomic improvement (53 percent) but also social solidarity (47 percent). As Sampson et al. found in Chicago, the spatial distribution of Hmong collective action is shaped more by the location of ethnic and public institutions than by ethnic residential concentration. The paper concludes that the analysis of collective action events in ethnic communities should combine social ecology, institutional, and interactional models.
La Comunidad Étnica Urbana y Acción Colectiva: Política, Protesta y Compromiso Civil en Norteamericanos Hmong en Minneapolis–St. Paul
Resumen
Este artículo replica y extiende la explicación de eventos de acción cívica desde la eficacia colectiva de Sampson et al. (2005) en comunidades étnicas formadas a través de migración internacional. Se examinan los movimientos políticos y sociales y de acción cívica colectiva de los norteamericanos Hmong de Minneapolis–St. Paul a través de un análisis de contenido de eventos reportados en uno de los periódicos de la comunidad étnica desde el 2002 al 2011 (N = 541). Al inicio los refugiados de Laos eran un grupo disperso, pero para los inicios del 2000 un 25 por ciento de todos los Norteamericanos Hmong vivían en el área metropolitana de Minneapolis–St. Paul. La mayor parte (68 por ciento) de su acción colectiva corresponde al compromiso cívico, no políticas ni propuestas. El compromiso cívico es básicamente para mejoras socio–económicas (53 por ciento), pero también para solidaridad social (47 por ciento). Como Sampson et al. encontraron en Chicago, la distribución espacial de la acción colectiva Hmong es formada más por la ubicación de instituciones étnicas y públicas que por la concentración residencial étnica. El artículo concluye que el análisis de eventos de acción colectiva debería combinar ecología social e institucional, así modelos interactivos de la comunidad étnica.
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