Blessing La Política

Carlos Vargas-Ramos is research associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at the City University of New York, Hunter College.Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo is professor emeritus of Puerto Rican and Latino studies at the City University of New York, Brooklyn College.

An essential guide to the new face of electoral politics in America, this book provides an examination of the political mobilization of Latinos and Latinas through the churches and the influence of being of the Catholic faith, enabling an understanding of the social and cultural dynamics at play.Blessing La Política: The Latino Religious Experience and Political Engagement in the United States presents a corrective challenge to the authoritative conclusion by the book Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics that Latinos are less likely to become involved in politics because of the predominant Catholic beliefs of this demographic. Through comprehensive analysis of the political tendencies of Latinos and Latinas of faith, the findings in this work consistently counterpoint those conclusions from a variety of perspectives and methodologies.The research presented in the book comprises surveys that are national in scope-both of elites, and at the mass level-as well as localized in cities. The authors have also collected ethnographies that are localized in U.S. cities and transnational in nature. The result is both a broad view of Latino politics and religion, and detailed information that provides far more context that is possible in national-level quantitative studies.

An essential guide to the new face of electoral politics in America, this book provides an examination of the political mobilization of Latinos and Latinas through the churches and the influence of being of the Catholic faith, enabling an understanding of the social and cultural dynamics at play.

PrefaceAcknowledgments1 IntroductionAnthony M. Stevens-ArroyoPart I: Theoretical and Historical Issues2 The Political Persuasions of Latino Faith CommunitiesAnthony M. Stevens-ArroyoPart II: Community Perspectives3 Latinos, Religion, and Political Participation in New York CityCarlos Vargas-Ramos4 Transnational Religious and Sociopolitical Dynamics of a Racialized Puerto Rican Community in ConnecticutSamiri Hernández Hiraldo5 "It's a Calling to Get Involved?." The Catholic Charismatic Movement and Civic Engagement among Mexican ImmigrantsG. Cristina MoraPart III: 2004 Elections6 Standing Up for Social Justice: Catholic Voting Patterns and the Latino Effect in the 2004 Presidential ElectionFrank Ridzi, Matthew T. Loveland, and Jillian Ruhland7 Epilogue: The Growing Influence of the Latino Catholic VoteMark M. GrayAfterword: Suggestions for Further Reading on Latinos and ReligionExcursus: A Layperson's Guide to Research on Hispanics/LatinosAnthony M. Stevens-ArroyoBibliographyAbout the Editors and ContributorsIndex