Publication
Title
Terrorist attacks and minority perceived discrimination
Author
Abstract
A growing strand of the literature finds a causal negative impact of terrorism on undifferentiated discriminatory attitudes toward Muslims, migrants, and other minorities. In this paper, we argue that jihadist terrorism threatens first and foremost Muslims. To evaluate this claim, we estimate the causal effect of jihadist terrorism on the perceived discrimination among Muslims through a 2×2 quasi‐experimental design. Exploiting “natural experiments” driven by exogenous variation in terror threat caused by jihadist attacks that unexpectedly occurred during the fieldwork of a large survey, we compare the perceived ethoracial discrimination of the relevant minority (Muslims) against other minorities (non‐Muslims) before and after five different terror attacks in five different European countries. We find that jihadist attacks increase perceived ethnoracial discrimination among Muslims while reducing it among non‐Muslims, and that individual‐level factors including social status and economic insecurity mitigate public opinion responses to a greater extent than group‐level factors do. Hence, while in‐group attitudes toward out‐groups tend to be undifferentiated, the experience of out‐groups in the aftermath of jihadist attacks depends on the specific identity of the respondents.
Language
English
Source (journal)
The British journal of sociology. - London
Publication
London : 2021
ISSN
0007-1315 [print]
1468-4446 [online]
DOI
10.1111/1468-4446.12799
Volume/pages
7 :2 (2021) , p. 286-299
ISI
000602191400001
Pubmed ID
33368235
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 04.01.2021
Last edited 02.10.2024
To cite this reference