Insulating an Ideology

Abstract

Many Cuban Americans embrace a distinctive anti-Castro ideology. Although this ideology supports the embargo against Cuba—purportedly to bring about the Castro regime's compliance or collapse—the real objectives may be more symbolic than practical. Ultimately, the institutional completeness provided by the enclave in South Florida insulates and regenerates this “exile” ideology. The authors hypothesize that if more than one half of an immigrant's time outside of Cuba has been in the South Florida enclave, the odds of supporting the exile ideology will be greater. Using a telephone survey of 1,807 Cuban Americans in South Florida, they find the predicted “enclave effect.” Also, they find that receiving news from English-language media—outside the enclave's institutional matrix—reduces the likelihood of support for the exile ideology.