The composition of the minority population as a threat: Can real economic and cultural threats explain xenophobia?

Abstract

This article sets out to develop a classical theme of empirical research within group threat theory, namely the argument that the size of the minority population threatens the majority population. To be able to clarify the mixed empirical results within this version of group threat theory, the article focuses on the composition of the immigrant population. The article tests both objective sources of cultural threats (linguistic composition and the Muslim population) and economic threats (the proportion of working-class individuals and the unemployed among the immigrant population). The study concludes that, first, the composition of the immigrant population is of utter importance for the size argument to be valid for cultural threats (proportion of Muslim population), whereas for economic threats it does not matter. Second, compositional economic threats matter strongly to the group that genuinely competes for scarce resources -the working class is more xenophobic when the immigrant working class is large. Third, the study brings some clarity with regard to the cultural composition of the immigrant population: it is shown that the relationship between Muslims and European majority populations mirrors the relationship between whites and African-Americans in the US.

How the religious context affects the relationship between religiosity and attitudes towards immigration

“…The reason for sticking with anti-immigration attitudes is that we want to examine some negative attitudes towards immigrants or immigration and not related to perceived threat, as the former is more in line with the USA-based research on religion and religiosity that we are primarily relating to in this article. Moreover, perceived threat is a very slippery concept to empirically measure as it is difficult to disentangle actually perceived threat from the negative attitudes (see Hjerm and Nagayoshi 2011), especially as the items included in the ESS most likely also tap into stereotypes about immigrants. 7.…”

“…Religion has always played a major role in the creation and sustainment of social cohesion (acknowledged already by Durkheim 2001) where religion constitutes a system of beliefs and shared meanings to interpret the world. Newcomers challenge a society's cultural homogeneity as well as its social cohesion, which, in terms of group threat, is an example of the cultural circumstances repeatedly shown to be more threatening than economic circumstances (Scheepers, Gijsbert and Coenders 2002;Hjerm and Nagayoshi 2011). Group threat theory further specifies that different contexts affect people differently depending on their vulnerability.…”

Exploring the Dynamics of Xenophobia in the Nordic Countries

“…Hjerm and Nagayoshi (2011) argue that the size of the minority group per se does not trigger it. What really matters is the composition of immigrant population in terms of their cultural origin and religious belonging.…”

What predicts threat perceptions toward people opposing to the government? A population-based study following Umbrella Movement, Hong Kong

“…Amid social or political upheavals, outgroups including immigrants in Europe (Lesińska, 2014), asylum seekers and refugees in Australia (Correa-Velez, Spaaij, & Upham, 2013;Suhnan, Pedersen, & Hartley, 2012), and ethnic minorities in the USA (Torres, Driscoll, & Voell, 2012) were regarded as outgroups who disrupted different aspects of society including security and local culture. There is also evidence showing heightened perceptions of threat toward outgroups during disruptive social/political situations, such as Arab Israelis in Israel (Canetti, Snider, Pedersen, & Hall, 2016), Australian, European, Hong Kong, and African immigrants in Britain (Ford, 2011), and Muslim populations in European countries (Hjerm & Nagayoshi, 2011).…”