The Relationship between Cultural Anxiety and Ethnic Essentialism: The Mediating Role of an Endorsement of Multicultural Ideology

Abstract

Many studies have explored the social consequences of ethnic essentialism in recent decades. In addition, a few studies have focused on the impact of perceived cultural context on ethnic essentialism. However, it is not clear why perceived cultural context can lead to changes in ethnic essentialism. In the present study, we hypothesized that the cultural anxiety of ethnic minorities may trigger a strong endorsement of and support for a multicultural ideology, thereby affecting beliefs about ethnic groups. To address the issue, 226 Tibetan and 102 Hui college students from Mainland China completed our questionnaires. The results across the two samples showed that (1) cultural anxiety was positively associated with both the endorsement of a multicultural ideology and ethnic essentialism, (2) cultural anxiety and the endorsement of a multicultural ideology positively predicted ethnic essentialism after controlling for demographic variables, and (3) cultural anxiety had both a direct effect on ethnic essentialism and an indirect effect on ethnic essentialism through the endorsement of a multicultural ideology. Our findings suggest that when ethnic minorities experience cultural anxiety, they might endorse a multicultural ideology and adopt essentialism to affirm their ethnic identities.

How essentialist beliefs about national groups differ by cultural origin and study abroad experience among Chinese and American college students

“…In this context, Chinese international students may be more likely to perceive the threat from the local majority group, and thus have stronger psychological demands to stay cohesive within their own group, in order to better survive in a threatening environment. As demonstrated in a previous study (Yang et al, 2015), stronger cultural anxiety experienced by the minority group may lead them to adopt essentialism to defend their group identity. Although we can only speculate on the origins of these strikingly different patterns, they lay important groundwork for future investigation.…”