This book uses a controversial criminal immigration court procedure along the México-U.S. border called Operation Streamline as a rich setting to understand the identity management strategies employed by lawyers and judges.
How do individuals negotiate situations in which their work-role identity is put in competition with their other social identities such as race/ethnicity, citizenship/generational status, and gender? By developing a new and integrative conceptualization of competing identity management, this book highlights the connection between micro level identities and macro level systems of structural racism, nationalism, and patriarchy. Through ethnographic observations and interviews, readers gain insight into the identity management strategies used by both Latino/a and non-Latino/a legal professionals of various citizenship/generational statuses and genders as they explain their participation in a program that represents many of the systemic inequalities that exist in the current U.S. criminal justice and immigration regimes.
The book will appeal to scholars of sociology, social psychology, critical criminology, racial/ethnic studies, and migration studies. Additionally, with clear descriptions of terminology and theories referenced, students can learn not only about Operation Streamline as a specific criminal immigration proceeding that exemplifies structural inequalities but also about how those inequalities are reproduced—often reluctantly—by the legal professionals involved.
Author(s): Jessie K. Finch
Series: Routledge Critical Studies in Crime, Diversity and Criminal Justice
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 192
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Operation Streamline
Criminal Immigration Prosecutions
The Roots of Operation Streamline
Arizona Denial Prosecution Initiative, Tucson, AZ
Operation Streamline as a Case of Competing Identity Management
Work-Related Role Identities
Social Identities
Summary
2. Competing Identity Management
Structural Symbolic Interactionism: Role Identity and Processes
Social Identity
Identity Work
Cultural Theories of Racial/Ethnic and National/ Citizenship Identity
Impression Management
Developing Competing Identity Management
3. “You Might Think It’s Unjust, But It’s Perfectly Legal”: Work-Related Role Strain for Legal Professionals
The “Substantive Justice” Pole of Work-Related Role Strain
The “Formal Justice” Pole of Work-Related Role Strain
Increased Work-Related Role Strain for Latino/a Legal Professionals
Identity Consolidation among Non-Latino/a Respondents
Identity Consolidation among Latino/a Respondents
Going through the Motions versus Role Making
Latino/a Legal Professional’s Use of Psychological Compartmentalization
Fictive Story Telling
Summary
4. “Honestly, I am Just Like Them”: The Impact of Racial/ Ethnic Social Identity
In-Group Similarities among Latino/a Respondents
Out-Group Differences among Non-Latino/a Respondents
Gringos
Describing Social-Structural Identity Distance
Failing to Recognize Racial/Ethnic Social Identity
Summary
5. “If There Was an Influx of White Canadian People Coming Across the Border, They Would Treat Them Better”: Negotiating Identifications
Time with Clients
Changes to Operation Streamline Over Time
Place: Oh, Canada
Beliefs/Ideas/Values through Common Metaphors
Summary
6. “I’m an American. The Problem is This: You Think I’m a Mexican”: Citizenship/Generational Status
Citizenship/Generational Status’s Effect on Racial/Ethnic Social Identity
Thick and Asserted Identities among 1.5- and 2nd-Generation Migrants
Pochos and DREAMers
Thin and Assigned Identities among Naturalized Migrants and the Third-Generation-Plus
Differences in Identity Management Strategies by Citizenship/Generational Status
Summary
7. “I’ll Try to Get You a Boy Lawyer”: Gender Differences
The Influence of Gender
Benevolent Sexism from Men Attorneys and Judges
Emotional Boundaries for Women Legal Professionals
Latina Respondents and Authority
Latina Activist Backgrounds and Altruistic Motivations
Summary
8. “There is No Difference Between You and Me”: Situationality of Social and Role Identities for 1.5- and 2nd-Generation Latino/As
Situations Matter: Balancing Competing Work-Related Role Identity and Social Identities
Client-Oriented Situations: Playing Up Racial/Ethnic Social Identity and Downplaying Citizenship/Generational Status by Acknowledging a Lack of Substantive Justice
Spanish-Language Proficiency and Racial/Ethnic Social Identity
Activist-Oriented Situations: Downplaying Racial/Ethnic Social Identity and Playing Up Citizenship/Generational Status by Focusing on Formal Justice
Summary
Conclusion
Appendix A: Research Design, Data Collection, and Method of Analysis
Appendix B: Interview Guide
Index
