The Immigration Dilemma: The Role of Perceived Group Competition, Ethnic Prejudice, and National Identity

In this article, we discuss the role of perceived competition for resources in determining negative attitudes toward immigrants and immigration in North America. We first provide background information on immigration policies and levels of immigration to Canada and the United States. Following an overview of our theoretical perspective, we then describe the research we have conducted in Canada and the United States indicating that perceived zero-sum competition between groups, whether situationally induced or a function of chronic belief in zero-sum relations among groups, is strongly implicated in negative immigration attitudes. In addition, we describe our recent attempts to improve attitudes toward immigrants and immigration through the targeting of zero-sum beliefs and through manipulations of the inclusiveness of national identity.

[1]  D. Campbell,et al.  Ethnocentrism: theories of conflict, ethnic attitudes, and group behavior , 1973 .

[2]  E. Krausz,et al.  Group Conflict and Cooperation: Their Social Psychology , 1968 .

[3]  Dana Ward,et al.  Right-Wing Authoritarianism , 1982 .

[4]  Matthew J. Hornsey,et al.  Intergroup Similarity and Subgroup Relations: Some Implications for Assimilation , 2000 .

[5]  Donald T. Campbell,et al.  Ethnocentric and other altruistic motives , 1966 .

[6]  W. Stephan,et al.  An Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice , 2000 .

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

[8]  Matthew J. Hornsey,et al.  Assimilation and Diversity: An Integrative Model of Subgroup Relations , 2000 .

[9]  D. Palmer.  Determinants of Canadian attitudes toward immigration: More than just racism? , 1996 .

[10]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Intergroup aggression: its predictors and distinctness from in-group bias. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[11]  Arnold M. Rose,et al.  An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. , 1944 .

[12]  G. Maio,et al.  Expanding the Assessment of Attitude Components and Structure: The Benefits of Open-ended Measures , 2002 .

[13]  G. Myrdal,et al.  An American Dilemma. The Negro problem and Modern Democracy. Volume II. , 1944 .

[14]  J. Berry,et al.  Multicultural and ethnic attitudes in Canada: An overview of the 1991 National Survey. , 1995 .

[15]  B. Malle,et al.  Social dominance orientation: A personality variable predicting social and political attitudes. , 1994 .

[16]  H. Tajfel,et al.  An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. , 1979 .

[17]  L. Bobo.  Group Conflict, Prejudice, and the Paradox of Contemporary Racial Attitudes , 1988 .

[18]  J. Dovidio,et al.  On the nature of contemporary prejudice: The causes, consequences, and challenges of aversive racism. , 1998 .

[19]  L. Bobo,et al.  Perceptions of racial group competition: Extending Blumer's theory of group position to a multiracial social context , 1996 .

[20]  J. Dovidio,et al.  Reducing Intergroup Bias: The Common Ingroup Identity Model , 2000 .

[21]  Mark P. Zanna,et al.  Values, stereotypes, and emotions as determinants of intergroup attitudes. , 1993 .

[22]  R. J. Brown.  The effects of intergroup similarity and cooperative vs. competitive orientation on intergroup discrimination , 1984 .

[23]  J. Dovidio,et al.  Across cultural divides: The value of a superordinate identity. , 1999 .

[24]  M. Brewer.  In-group bias in the minimal intergroup situation: A cognitive-motivational analysis. , 1979 .

[25]  F. Pratto,et al.  CONSENSUAL SOCIAL DOMINANCE ORIENTATION AND ITS CORRELATES WITHIN THE HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY , 1996 .

[26]  J. Berry.  Understanding and Managing Multiculturalism: Some Possible Implica tions of Research in Canada , 1991 .

[27]  F. Pratto.  The Puzzle of Continuing Group Inequality: Piecing Together Psychological, Social, and Cultural Forces in Social Dominance Theory , 1999 .

[28]  Lincoln Quillian.  Prejudice as a response to perceived group threat: population composition and anti-immigrant and racial prejudice in Europe , 1995 .

[29]  Deborah A. Prentice,et al.  Cultural Divides: Understanding and Overcoming Group Conflict , 2001 .

[30]  V. Esses,et al.  Effects of Perceived Economic Competition on People’s Willingness to Help Empower Immigrants , 2000 .

[31]  J. Kennedy.  A Nation of Immigrants , 1964 .

[32]  J. Greenberg,et al.  Terror Management Theory of Self-Esteem and Cultural Worldviews: Empirical Assessments and Conceptual Refinements , 1997 .

[33]  F. Pratto,et al.  Social Dominance Orientation and the Political Psychology of Gender: A Case of Invariance? , 1994 .

[34]  F. Pratto,et al.  Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression , 1999 .

[35]  B. Altemeyer,et al.  The Other “Authoritarian Personality” , 1998 .

[36]  James H. Johnson,et al.  Immigration Reform and the Browning of America: Tensions, Conflicts and Community Instability in Metropolitan Los Angeles 1 , 1997, The International migration review.

[37]  Phyllis A. Anastasio,et al.  The Common Ingroup Identity Model: Recategorization and the Reduction of Intergroup Bias , 1993 .

[38]  J. Berry,et al.  Multicultural Policy and Social Psychology: The Canadian Experience , 2000 .

[39]  T. Espenshade,et al.  Contemporary American Attitudes toward U.S. Immigration 1 , 1996, The International migration review.

[40]  B. Altemeyer,et al.  The Authoritarian Specter , 1996 .

[41]  J. Berry.  Multiculturalism and ethnic attitudes in Canada , 1976 .

[42]  Dalmas A. Taylor,et al.  Eliminating Racism: Profiles in Controversy. , 1989 .

[43]  B. Altemeyer,et al.  Enemies of Freedom: Understanding Right-Wing Authoritarianism , 1988 .

[44]  V. Esses,et al.  Intergroup Competition and Attitudes Toward Immigrants and Immigration: An Instrumental Model of Group Conflict , 1998 .

[45]  L. Bobo.  Prejudice as Group Position: Microfoundations of a Sociological Approach to Racism and Race Relations , 1999 .