Coethnics often work in the same industries. How does this ethnic clustering affect individuals’ political loyalties amid industrial growth and decline? Focusing on migrant groups, the author contends that ethnic groups’ distribution across industries alters the political allegiances of their members. When a group is concentrated in a growing industry, economic optimism and resources flow between coethnics, bolstering migrants’ confidence in their economic security and dissuading investments in local political incorporation. When a group is concentrated in a declining industry, these gains dissipate, leading migrants to integrate into out-groups with greater access to political rents. Analyses of immigrants near US coal mines in the early twentieth century support this theory. The article shows how ethnic groups’ distribution across industries shapes the evolution of group cleavages and illuminates how decarbonizing transitions away from fossil fuels may reshape identity conflicts.

Coethnics 经常在同一行业工作。在产业兴衰中，这种族群聚集如何影响个人的政治忠诚度？作者着眼于移民群体，认为种族群体在行业中的分布会改变其成员的政治忠诚度。当一个群体集中在一个不断发展的行业时，经济乐观情绪和资源在同族之间流动，增强了移民对其经济安全的信心，并劝阻对当地政治融入的投资。当一个群体集中在衰退的行业时，这些收益就会消散，导致移民融入更容易获得政治租金的外部群体。对 20 世纪初美国煤矿附近移民的分析支持了这一理论。