Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T11:10:29.368Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Predisposing Factors and Situational Triggers: Exclusionary Reactions to Immigrant Minorities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2004

PAUL M. SNIDERMAN
Affiliation:
Stanford University
LOUK HAGENDOORN
Affiliation:
University of Utrecht
MARKUS PRIOR
Affiliation:
Princeton University

Abstract

This paper examines the bases of opposition to immigrant minorities in Western Europe, focusing on The Netherlands. The specific aim of this study is to test the validity of predictions derived from two theories—realistic conflict, which emphasizes considerations of economic well-being, and social identity, which emphasizes considerations of identity based on group membership. The larger aim of this study is to investigate the interplay of predisposing factors and situational triggers in evoking political responses. The analysis is based on a series of three experiments embedded in a public opinion survey carried out in The Netherlands (n=2007) in 1997–98. The experiments, combined with parallel individual-level measures, allow measurement of the comparative impact of both dispositionally based and situationally triggered threats to economic well-being and to national identity at work. The results show, first, that considerations of national identity dominate those of economic advantage in evoking exclusionary reactions to immigrant minorities and, second, that the effect of situational triggers is to mobilize support for exclusionary policies above and beyond the core constituency already predisposed to support them.

Type
ARTICLES
Copyright
© 2004 by the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adorno Theodor, Else Frenkel-Brunswick, Daniel Levinson, and R. Nevitt Stanford. 1950 The Authoritarian Personality. New York: Harper.
Barry Brian. 2001 Culture and Equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Blumer Herbert. 1958Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position.” Pacific Sociological Review 1 (1): 37.Google Scholar
Bobo Lawrence, and Vincent L. Hutchings. 1996Perceptions of Racial Group Competititon: Extending Blumer's Theory of Group Position to a Multiracial Social Context,” American Sociological Review 61 (6): 951–72.Google Scholar
Brewer Marilyn B. 2001Ingroup Identification and Intergroup Conflict: When Does Ingroup Love Become Outgroup Hate?” In Social Identity, Intergroup Conflict and Conflict Reduction, ed. Richard D. Ashmore, Lee Jussim, and David Wilder. New York: Oxford University Press.
Brown R. 1995 Prejudice: Its Social Psychology. Cambridge: Blackwell.
Campbell Donald T. 1958Common Fate, Similarity, and Other Indices of the Status of Aggregates of Persons as Social Entities.” Behavioral Science 3 (1): 1425.Google Scholar
Capozza Dora, and Rupert Brown, 2000 Social Identity Processes: Trends in Theory and Research. London: Sage.
Coenders Marcel, and Peer Scheepers. 1998Support for Ethnic Discrimination in The Netherlands, 1979–1993: Effects of Period, Cohort, and Individual Characteristics.” European Sociological Review 14 (4): 405–22.Google Scholar
Duckitt John. 1992 The Social Psychology of Prejudice. Praeger: New York.
Favell Adrian. 1998 Philosophies of Integration: Immigration and the Idea of Citizenship in France and Britain. New York: St. Martins Press.
Hagendoorn L., and Nekue S. 1999 Education and Racism. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Hagendoorn L., J. Veenman, and W. Vollebergh, eds. 2003 Cultural and Social Integration of immigrants in The Netherlands. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Hardin Russell. 1995 One for All: The Logic of Group Conflict. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hitchcock William I. 2002 The Struggle for Europe. New York: Doubleday.
Horton John. 1993The Satanic Verses Controvery: A Brief Introduction,” In Liberalism, Multitculturalism and Toleration, ed. John Horton. Houndmills: Macmillan Press.
Huddy Leonie. 2001From Social to Political Identity: Implications for Political Psychology.” Political Psychology 22 (1): 127–56.Google Scholar
Kitschelt Herbert. 1997 The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Levy Jacob. 2000 The Multiculturalism of Fear. New York: Oxford University Press.
Luhtanen R.., and J. Crocker. 1992A Collective Self-Esteem Scale: Self-Evaluation of One's Social Identity.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 18 (3): 302–18.Google Scholar
Marcus George E.., John L. Sullivan, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, and Sandra L. Wood, 1995 With Malice toward Some: How People Make Civil Liberties Judgments. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer Nonna. 2002 Ces Français qui votent Le Pen. Paris: Flammarion.
Modood Tariz. 1993Muslims, Incitement to Hatred and the Law.” In Liberalism, Multitculturalism and Toleration, ed. John Horton. Houndmills: Macmillan Press.
Okin Susan Moller. 1999 Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Parekh Bhikhu, 2000 Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Quillian Lincoln. 1995Prejudice as a Response to Perceived Group Threat: Population Composition and Anti-Immigrant and Racial Prejudice in Europe.” American Sociological Review 60 (4): 586612.Google Scholar
Sears David O.., and Carolyn L. Funk. 1990Self-Interest in Americans' Political Opinions.” In Beyond Self-Interest, ed. Jane J. Mansbridge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Selznick Gertrude, and Stephen Steinberg. 1969 The Tenacity of Prejudice. New York: Harper.
Sigelman Lee, Anna Greenberg, and Kenneth Wald. N.d. “Self-Interest and Race-Related Political Attitudes: A Reconsideration.” Unpublished paper.
Sniderman Paul M. 1975 Personality and Democratic Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sniderman Paul M., Pierangelo Peri, Rui de Figuerido, and Thomas Piazza. 2000 The Outsider: Prejudice and Politics in Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Tajfel Henri. 1981 Human Groups and Social Categories: Studies in Social Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Thranhardt Dietrich. 2000Conflict, Consensus, and Policy Outcomes: Immigration and Integration in Germany and The Netherlands.” In Challenging Immigration and Ethnic Relations Politic, ed. Ruud Koopmans and Paul Statham. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Visser Jelle, and Anton Hemerijck. 1997 A Dutch Miracle: Job Growth, Welfare Reform and Corporatism in The Netherlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Wikkan Unni. 2002 Generous Betrayal: The Politics of Culture in the New Europe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.