How a Tolerant Past Affects the Present

Three studies, conducted in the Netherlands, examined the relationship between a tolerant representation of national history and the acceptance of Muslim expressive rights. Following self-categorization theory, it was hypothesized that historical tolerance would be associated with greater acceptance of Muslim expressive rights, especially for natives who strongly identify with their national in-group. Furthermore, it was predicted that the positive effect of representations of historical tolerance on higher identifiers’ acceptance could be explained by reduced perceptions of identity incompatibility. The results of Study 1 confirmed the first hypothesis, and the results of Study 2 and Study 3 supported the second hypothesis. These findings underline the importance of historical representations of the nation for understanding current reactions toward immigrants. Importantly, the results show that a tolerant representation of national history can elevate acceptance of immigrants, especially among natives who feel a relatively strong sense of belonging to their nation.

[1]  M. Verkuyten.  Justifying discrimination against Muslim immigrants: out-group ideology and the five-step social identity model. , 2013, The British journal of social psychology.

[2]  S. Reicher,et al.  The Impact of Adopting Ethnic or Civic Conceptions of National Belonging for Others’ Treatment , 2011, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[3]  M. Verkuyten,et al.  Mobilizing opposition towards Muslim immigrants: national identification and the representation of national history. , 2011, The British journal of social psychology.

[4]  J. Jetten,et al.  When groups have a lot to lose: Historical continuity enhances resistance to a merger , 2011 .

[5]  M. Verkuyten.  Assimilation ideology and outgroup attitudes among ethnic majority members , 2011 .

[6]  F. Boen,et al.  The role of national identity representation in the relation between in-group identification and out-group derogation: ethnic versus civic representation. , 2010, The British journal of social psychology.

[7]  A. Hayes.  Beyond Baron and Kenny: Statistical Mediation Analysis in the New Millennium , 2009 .

[8]  M. Tarrant,et al.  Social categorization and empathy for outgroup members. , 2009, The British journal of social psychology.

[9]  M. Verkuyten,et al.  Religious identity consolidation and mobilization among Turkish Dutch Muslims , 2009 .

[10]  Rupert Brown,et al.  National Identification And Anti-Immigrant Prejudice: Individual And Contextual Effects Of National Definitions , 2009 .

[11]  S. Reicher,et al.  ‘Our way of life is worth defending’: testing a model of attitudes towards superordinate group membership through a study of Scots' attitudes towards Britain , 2009 .

[12]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models , 2008, Behavior research methods.

[13]  M. Koning.  When ways of life collide: Multiculturalism and its discontents in the Netherlands , 2008 .

[14]  James H. Liu,et al.  Social representations of history and the legitimation of social inequality: the form and function of historical negation , 2008 .

[15]  A. Coyle,et al.  The rhetoric of acculturation: when integration means assimilation. , 2007, The British journal of social psychology.

[16]  Celeste E. Doerr,et al.  Liberty and Justice for All? Implications of Exposure to the U.S. Flag for Intergroup Relations , 2007, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[17]  S. Condor.  Temporality and collectivity: diversity, history and the rhetorical construction of national entitativity. , 2006, The British journal of social psychology.

[18]  Sheri R. Levy,et al.  The Protestant Work Ethic: A Lay Theory with Dual Intergroup Implications , 2006 .

[19]  C. Judd,et al.  When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[20]  James H. Liu,et al.  How the past weighs on the present: social representations of history and their role in identity politics. , 2005, The British journal of social psychology.

[21]  Sheri R. Levy,et al.  Lay theories and intergroup relations: A social-developmental perspective , 2005 .

[22]  J. Dayan,et al.  Acculturation orientations towards Israeli Arabs and Jewish immigrants in Israel. , 2004, International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie.

[23]  M. Verkuyten.  Everyday Ways of Thinking about Multiculturalism , 2004 .

[24]  H. Tajfel,et al.  The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior. , 2004 .

[25]  James H. Liu,et al.  Social representations of history in Malaysia and Singapore: On the relationship between national and ethnic identity , 2002 .

[26]  J. Sullivan,et al.  The psychological underpinnings of democracy: A selective review of research on political tolerance, interpersonal trust, and social capital. , 1999, Annual review of psychology.

[27]  Jolanda Jetten,et al.  Strength of identification and intergroup differentiation: the influence of group norms , 1997 .

[28]  S. West,et al.  Experimental personality designs: analyzing categorical by continuous variable interactions. , 1996, Journal of personality.

[29]  E. F. Stone-Romero,et al.  Relative power of moderated multiple regression and the comparison of subgroup correlation coefficients for detecting moderating effects. , 1994 .

[30]  M. Hogg,et al.  Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. , 1989 .

[31]  W. Bean.  What is History , 1964 .

[32]  N. Ellemers,et al.  The social identity perspective today: The impact of its defining ideas , 2010 .

[33]  A. Bobbio,et al.  Self-continuity: Individual and collective perspectives , 2008 .

[34]  James H. Liu,et al.  A Narrative Theory of History and Identity , 2007 .

[35]  Mark Levine,et al.  Saving Bulgaria's Jews : An analysis of social identity and the mobilisation of social solidarity , 2006 .

[36]  Jolanda Jetten,et al.  Guilty by Association : When One ' s Group Has a Negative History , 2001 .

[37]  Naomi Ellemers,et al.  Commitment and intergroup behavior. , 1999 .

[38]  Larry E. Toothaker,et al.  Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions , 1991 .

[39]  Walker Connor.  When is a nation , 1990 .

[40]  R. Manwaring.  Ideological dilemmas , 2022, The Politics of Social Democracy.