TY - JOUR

T1 - Islamophobia without Muslims? The "contact Hypothesis" as an Explanation for Anti-Muslim Attitudes - Eastern European Societies in a Comparative Perspective

T2 - Journal of Nationalism Memory and Language Politics

AU - Pickel, Gert

AU - Öztürk, Cemal

N1 - Funding Information: The empirical part of our article focuses on one specific manifestation of Islamophobia: The support for an immigration ban for Muslims. Of course, this policy preference encompasses different phenomena such as ethnocentrism, discomfort with religious people, and anti-immigrant positions in general, but in our opinion, it represents anti-Muslim prejudice in the first instance. The seventh round of the European Social Survey (ESS 2014) incorporates a question that allows us to examine whether Europeans support a Muslim ban by asking whether Muslims from other countries should be allowed to come and live in their countries?. It is a unique opportunity to scrutinize to what extent right-wing populist and extremist parties call for a complete Muslim ban is supported by European citizens. Even if hostility toward Muslim immigration is associated with opposition to immigration in general, it is reasonable to assume that the survey question captures Islamophobic attitudes. For many Europeans, it is not immigrants in general, but Muslims who are perceived as the ‘main problem’. In contemporary Europe, political debates about Muslim immigration come along with populist rhetoric about the ‘Islamization of Europe’. On a regular basis, populist politicians blame governments for their foot-dragging vis-à-vis an alleged ‘Muslim invasion of Europe’. This rhetoric is an attempt to attract prejudiced voters and to portray themselves as the only credible guardian of ‘the people’ (). Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Gert Pickel and Cemal Öztürk, published by Sciendo.

PY - 2018/12/31

Y1 - 2018/12/31

N2 - Even though Muslim communities are virtually absent in most Eastern European societies new research shows that Islamophobia is more widespread in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. The existence of 'Islamophobia without Muslims' is surprising prima facie, but in fact this empirical pattern reflects the assumption of the contact hypothesis. In a nutshell, the contact hypothesis argues that an individual's contact with members of an 'outgroup' is conducive to refute existing prejudice and stereotypes. We test the explanatory power of the contact hypothesis on both the individual and the societal level. Empirically, we draw our data from the European Social Survey (2014), which allows us to conduct a systematic comparison of Eastern and Western European societies and to account for other well-established social psychological theories of prejudice and stereotyping (e. g. Social Identity Theory, Integrated Threat Theory). Our empirical results show that people with less or no contact are more prone to Islamophobic attitudes. This pattern is characteristic for Eastern European countries as the sheer absence of Muslim communities in these societies turns out to be a relevant explanation for anti-Muslim prejudice. Eastern European citizens tend to have para-social-contacts with Muslims. In general, they rely on media and statements of (populist) politicians, to build their opinions about Muslims. Negative news coverage fueled by terrorist attacks shapes the prevailing image of all Muslims, media consumption therefore intensifies already existing anti-Muslim sentiments. As a result, Eastern European countries have been comparatively unpopular choices for migrants to settle.

AB - Even though Muslim communities are virtually absent in most Eastern European societies new research shows that Islamophobia is more widespread in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe. The existence of 'Islamophobia without Muslims' is surprising prima facie, but in fact this empirical pattern reflects the assumption of the contact hypothesis. In a nutshell, the contact hypothesis argues that an individual's contact with members of an 'outgroup' is conducive to refute existing prejudice and stereotypes. We test the explanatory power of the contact hypothesis on both the individual and the societal level. Empirically, we draw our data from the European Social Survey (2014), which allows us to conduct a systematic comparison of Eastern and Western European societies and to account for other well-established social psychological theories of prejudice and stereotyping (e. g. Social Identity Theory, Integrated Threat Theory). Our empirical results show that people with less or no contact are more prone to Islamophobic attitudes. This pattern is characteristic for Eastern European countries as the sheer absence of Muslim communities in these societies turns out to be a relevant explanation for anti-Muslim prejudice. Eastern European citizens tend to have para-social-contacts with Muslims. In general, they rely on media and statements of (populist) politicians, to build their opinions about Muslims. Negative news coverage fueled by terrorist attacks shapes the prevailing image of all Muslims, media consumption therefore intensifies already existing anti-Muslim sentiments. As a result, Eastern European countries have been comparatively unpopular choices for migrants to settle.

KW - Contact Hypothesis

KW - Eastern Europe

KW - Islamophobia

KW - Populism

KW - Social-psychological Theories

KW - Politics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85075602272&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/84d594f5-6486-3fc2-a840-0e67fdcafeee/

U2 - 10.2478/jnmlp-2018-0009

DO - 10.2478/jnmlp-2018-0009

M3 - Scientific review articles

VL - 12

SP - 162

EP - 191

JO - Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics

JF - Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics

SN - 2570-5857

IS - 2

ER -