Cultural Values and Voter Turnout - The Vietnamese in Denmark

Abstract: In Danish political and academic circles a high voter turnout among ethnic minorities is seen as a sign of successful integration. The Vietnamese are considered one of the best integrated ethnic groups in Denmark. However, among the most important minority groups in Denmark, the Vietnamese has the lowest voter turnout of all. The low voter turnout challenges the explanatory capabilities of institutional, socio-economic and collective mobilization approaches - all dominant paradigms of political participation. The central argument of the thesis is that the voting behavior of the Vietnamese group cannot be explained without a cultural analysis of a range of values, held by a majority of Vietnamese immigrants, that function as important markers of Vietnamese ethnic identity. These values - a certain understanding of hierarchy and authority, humbleness, and conflict avoidance - happen to discourage involvement in politics and encourage certain resentments against the confrontational form that political debate takes in Denmark, a form that is cherished by most Danes as central for the parliamentary democracy. The positive wish to identify with a Vietnamese ethnicity has an unintended side effect of discouraging involvement and engagement with politics. Theoretically the thesis takes its departure in anti-essentialist approaches to ethnicity and culture (i.e. Fredrik Barth). Methodologically the thesis rests on quantitative survey data, published in depth qualitative data, and semi-structured interviews conducted by the author.