Support for multiculturalism in The Netherlands

Abstract

A study on the support for multiculturalism was carried out among 250 members of the majority group in a Dutch city. The concept of multiculturalism was found to be one‐dimensional. The e2nd2orsement of multiculturalism was moderate and varied across domains; the respondents were neutral towards the (dis)approval of cultural diversity and the acculturation strategies of majority group members, positive towards equal societal participation and interaction between majority group members and immigrants, and negative about the acculturation strategies of immigrants. Further, gender, age and income showed no influence on multiculturalism, while education had a positive effect. The present study replicated an earlier study (in 1999) carried out before the murder on Fortuyn (a Dutch politician). The previous and current studies found identical scores on multiculturalism.

The Concept of Multiculturalism: A Study Among Dutch Majority Members

“…There seems to be a widely held view, stimulated by the Dutch public media, which holds that support of multiculturalism has decreased remarkably following these negative events. A comparison of data collected prior to 9/11 (Arends‐Tóth & Van de Vijver, 2003), between 9/11 and the assassination of Fortuyn (the current study), and after the latter event (Schalk‐Soekar, Breugelmans, & Van de Vijver, in press) shows a remarkable stability in the neutral attitude of the Dutch majority. So, multicultural attitudes seem to be stable in The Netherlands, even after seemingly crucial, negative events.…”

Stability of Majority Attitudes toward Multiculturalism in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2007

“…The scale was developed on the basis of the Multicultural Ideology Scale by Berry and Kalin (1995). The MAS (Breugelmans & Van de Vijver, 2004; Schalk‐Soekar, Breugelmans, & Van de Vijver, in press) and adaptations of the MAS (Schalk‐Soekar & Van de Vijver, in press) have repeatedly shown excellent psychometric properties. Similar to applications of the Multicultural Ideology Scale in the Netherlands (Arends‐Tóth & Van de Vijver, 2003), the scale is unidimensional and has a high internal consistency.…”

“…Although the four domains do not represent separate factors—they all pertain to the single construct of multiculturalism—mean endorsement rates differ across domains. People tend to be the most positive about multiculturalism in the domain of Equal Rights and Social Participation and least positive in the domain of Acculturation by Minorities (Breugelmans & Van de Vijver, 2004; Schalk‐Soekar et al., in press).…”

“…The data of December 2001 (Schalk‐Soekar & Van de Vijver, in press) were collected among majority Dutch in the city of Tilburg, using an adapted version of the MAS (24 items, 7‐point Likert scale). The data of October 2004 (Schalk‐Soekar et al., in press) were derived from a study among majority Dutch in the city of Hengelo (eastern part of the Netherlands) using the original MAS. The data for 2005 were derived from two studies carried out between December 2004 and January 2005 in various cities in the province of Noord‐Brabant (southern part of the Netherlands).…”

Managers’ Evaluations of Immigrant Job Applicants

“…Arends-Tôth and van de Vijver (2003) found that immigrants viewed integration as the preferred mode of acculturation in their public domain (e.g., work context), but that separation was preferred in the private domain (e.g., spare time). From the perspective of majority members, however, Schalk-Soekar, Breugelmans, and van de Vijver (2008) found that majority members believed it was impossible for immigrants to combine minority culture maintenance and adjustment to the majority society, implying that maintaining one culture automatically means letting go of the other.…”