'Nativism' the Concept: Some Reflections (1997)

Abstract

This chapter (published in 1997) considers the role and significance of the concept of "nativism" in US national debates over immigration policy. It argues that to characterize a position or practice as "nativist" is an effort to disable it through condemnation. The term has come to represent a species of anti-foreignism which is normatively out of bounds in U.S. national immigration debates. Nevertheless, this discursive consensus leaves us with disputes over what sorts of immigration-related discourses or policies fall within nativism's forbidden domain.

In (pre-Trump era) neo-liberal democratic discourse, arguments to the effect that new immigration threatens the racial or ethnic identity of the U.S. (a la Patrick Buchanan) were fairly easily designated as nativist (although there were always boundary disputes about the scope of illiberal ethno-racialism itself). Conversely, immigration restrictionist arguments articulated in terms of national self interest and motivated by the conviction that "compatriots take priority," were and are generally deemed to avoid the disabling taint of nativism. That is, formally race-neutral stances invoking versions of nation-based ethical particularism and sovereignism have functioned as legitimate and legitimizing bases for immigration restrictionism.

From the chapter: "Although Patrick Buchanan's 'America First' platform was widely regarded as an exemplary form of nativism, the assumption that immigration policy should be shaped by a commitment to Americans first is not ordinarily viewed in such terms at all. Far from being illegitimate, in fact, the assumed priority of citizens over foreigners, of nationals over strangers, lies at the absolute core of contemporary political thought."