Ripple effects: An exclusive host national context produces more perceived discrimination among immigrants

Abstract

This article examines the perceived discrimination of immigrants -a group for whom experiences of discrimination can be damaging for their long-term commitment and identification with the national core group. Taking its point of departure in the literature on national identity, the article argues that perceived discrimination should be strongest among immigrants in host national societies with an exclusive self-image. This hypothesis is examined by use of multilevel regressions on cross-national survey data from 18 Western European countries. It is found that where exclusive attitudes are widespread in the host population, the percentage of immigrants who perceive themselves to be part of a group discriminated against is significantly greater, all else being equal. In addition, there is a cross-level interaction effect of host national inclusivity and ethnic minority identity which suggests that individual-level determinants of perceived discrimination do not 'work' in the same way in normatively different contexts. In terms of the implications of these findings, the article points to the importance of contextualising individual-level accounts of perceived discrimination, with particular focus on the power of a society's attitudinal milieu to affect individual feelings of inclusion and exclusion.

Trusting diversity: nationalist and multiculturalist orientations affect generalised trust through ethnic in‐group and out‐group trust

“…However, at the level of individual attitudes, cross‐national surveys paint a picture in which Denmark is more typical: Larsen () found that Denmark is similar to most other North‐western European countries in his cross‐national typology of popular nationalism. Similarly, Simonsen () showed that Danes are quite similar to other North European peoples in their perceptions of the economic and cultural impacts of immigration. Finally, van der Waal, de Koster and van Oorschot () showed that welfare chauvinist attitudes are somewhat less prevalent in Nordic Europe than elsewhere (using the 2008 module of European Social Survey).…”

Nationalism in Settled Times

“…Studies have shown that restrictive views of the nation (i.e., those based not only on elective but also ascriptive criteria, such as ancestry or birth in the country) are associated with stronger anti-immigrant attitudes (Kunovich 2009, Pehrson et al 2009, Wright 2011a; negative sentiments toward ethnic minorities (Citrin et al 1990); welfare chauvinism (Wright & Reeskens 2013); and cultural protectionism, including support for exclusionary language laws (Schildkraut 2003). These attitudinal outcomes are likely to have implications for the frequency and quality of social interaction across group boundaries, social movement mobilization, and support for exclusionary policies and extremist politics at the ballot box-though such causal effects have not been conclusively established in empirical research [but see Simonsen (2016aSimonsen ( , 2016b]. …”

Social Mobility and Perceived Discrimination: Adding an Intergenerational Perspective

“…They are a combination of social exposure to actual discrimination and cognitive susceptibility to frame experiences in terms of discrimination Maxwell 2015). This explains intuitive findings, for instance, that persons of those origins who tend to be most rejected by natives report higher average levels of perceived discrimination (Habtegiorgis, Paradies, and Dunn 2014;Simonsen 2016). Another example is that immigrants who experience status loss (as compared to their country of origin) tend to suffer from depression over-frequently (Euteneuer and Schäfer 2018;Nicklett and Burgard 2009) and report more experiences of discrimination .…”