scholarly journals Antecedents and consequences of system justification among Iranian migrants in Western Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 637-653
Author(s):  
Maarten Johannes van Bezouw ◽  
Jojanneke van der Toorn ◽  
Ali Honari ◽  
Arieke J. Rijken

Seeing the sociopolitical system as fair and legitimate is important for people’s participation in civic duties, political action, and the functioning of society in general. However, little is known about when migrants, without life-long socialization in a certain system, justify the sociopolitical system of their host country and how system justification influences their political participation. We examined antecedents of system justification using a survey among Iranian migrants in eight European countries (N = 935). Subsequently, we examined the relationship between system justification and political participation intentions. We found that system justification beliefs are generally high in our sample, mainly stemming from an assessment of opportunity to achieve changes in intergroup relations. Stronger social identity threat, feeling disadvantaged, a longer residence in Europe, and perceived intergroup stability all relate to less system justification. Conversely, stronger efficacy beliefs bolster system justification. Furthermore, we found some support for a curvilinear relationship between system justification and political participation intentions, but the size of this effect is small. The results show that the high levels of system justification of Iranian migrants are at risk when discrimination and disadvantage are perceived to be stable facets of society. Surprisingly, political participation to better Iranian migrants’ societal position is barely affected by system justification. We discuss implications and further research that can increase understanding of system justification among migrants.

2020 ◽  
pp. 003232172092325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arndt Leininger ◽  
Maurits J Meijers

While some consider populist parties to be a threat to liberal democracy, others have argued that populist parties may positively affect the quality of democracy by increasing political participation of citizens. This supposition, however, has hitherto not been subjected to rigorous empirical tests. The voter turnout literature, moreover, has primarily focused on stable institutional and party system characteristics – ignoring more dynamic determinants of voter turnout related to party competition. To fill this double gap in the literature, we examine the effect of populist parties, both left and right, on aggregate-level turnout in Western and Eastern European parliamentary elections. Based on a dataset on 315 elections in 31 European democracies since 1970s, we find that turnout is higher when populist parties are represented in parliament prior to an election in Eastern Europe, but not in Western Europe. These findings further our understanding of the relationship between populism, political participation and democracy.


1970 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-178
Author(s):  
Alvin Rabushka

The object of this note is to demonstrate that generalizations about political participation may be invalid when applied to “developing” or “transitional” societies. Specifically, the relationship between rates of voter turnout and levels of education for urban Chinese in Malaya is not consistent with results reported for Western societies.A geographical classification of bibliographic entries in Lester Milbrath's Political Participation discloses a very interesting statistic: only 3 of the 288 listed entries concern the transitional societies of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The lack of data on developing areas may, in large measure, explain the emphasis placed on studies of political participation in North America and Western Europe. Although there is more research on transitional societies today, most studies still focus on advanced industrial societies. The validity of the generalizations presented in Political Participation, therefore, is restricted to North America and Western Europe.Using data collected in Malaya (1957), I examine four of Milbrath's hypotheses. These include:(1) higher education increases participation (p.122);(2) middle-aged persons participate more than young or old persons (p. 134);(3) men are more likely to participate than women (p. 133); and(4) religion affects participation (p. 137).


2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Kelleher ◽  
David Lowery

Despite decades of research, our understanding of how institutional contexts influence urban political participation remains muddled. It is argued here that this confusion arises from the diversity of competing hypotheses, failures to conceptualize the causal processes underlying these hypotheses thoroughly, and the use of inadequate controls for rival hypotheses. A more comprehensive specification of the relationship between metropolitan jurisdictional contexts and two modes of participation is provided. After a presentation of a theoretical framework organizing the many extant hypotheses, these are tested, using survey data collected by the Knight Foundation from 2002 in twenty-five urban counties. Contrary to prior work, it is found that the size of local governments is positively associated with participation, while governmental fragmentation diminishes the propensity for political action.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-79
Author(s):  
Emily B. Carty

In a region where personalistic politics and charismatic leaders have long been a characteristic of the political landscape, there has been little research exploring the relationship between individuals’ identification with leaders and its relationship with political participation. Using original survey data from Argentina in 2016, the findings from this study demonstrate a few key points. Firstly, that identities form around political leaders and that identification plays an important role in political participation. Secondly, while personal identification with a leader is related with atomized and collective participation, the relationship between collective identification that is shared with other supporters of the political leader and both types of participation is even stronger. Additionally, these identification measures are more strongly associated with political action in support of a leader than frequently used variables such as partisan identification and ideology. This suggests that the study of political participation, especially in those contexts with more personalized political systems such as are often found in Latin America, should not ignore the role of personal and especially group leader-based identity.


Author(s):  
Brenda Major ◽  
Toni Schmader

This chapter provides an overview of social identity threat theory and research and discusses its implications for health. The chapter defines social identity threat as the situationally triggered concern that one is at risk of being stigmatized and provides a conceptual model of its antecedents and consequences. Social identity threat stems from mere awareness of the cultural representations that associate a self-relevant social identity with undesirable characteristics, coupled with situational cues that bring these self-relevant cultural biases to mind, and personal characteristics that moderate one’s susceptibility to such experiences. Social identity threat can lead to involuntary psychological and physiological processes that when experienced repeatedly can have detrimental consequences for health. This chapter describes strategies that people use to cope with social identity threat and discusses their implications for health, in addition to providing a description of psychological interventions that can attenuate the negative effects of social identity threat.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hall ◽  
Toni Schmader ◽  
Audrey Aday ◽  
Michelle Inness ◽  
Elizabeth Croft

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 361-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natascha de Hoog

The underlying process of reactions to social identity threat was examined from a defense motivation perspective. Two studies measured respondents’ social identification, after which they read threatening group information. Study 1 compared positive and negative group information, attributed to an ingroup or outgroup source. Study 2 compared negative and neutral group information to general negative information. It was expected that negative group information would induce defense motivation, which reveals itself in biased information processing and in turn affects the evaluation of the information. High identifiers should pay more attention to, have higher threat perceptions of, more defensive thoughts of, and more negative evaluations of negative group information than positive or neutral group information. Findings generally supported these predictions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Pagliaro ◽  
Francesca Romana Alparone ◽  
Maria Giuseppina Pacilli ◽  
Angelica Mucchi-Faina

We examined how members of a low status group react to a social identity threat. We propose that expressing an ambivalent evaluation toward the ingroup may represent a way to manage such a threatening situation. For this study, 131 undergraduates’ identification with Italians was assessed. Participants were divided into groups, according to a situational identity threat (high vs. low). In line with hypotheses, low identifiers expressed more ambivalence toward the ingroup in the high (vs. low) threat condition. The reversed pattern emerged for high identifiers. This effect was mediated by the perception of intragroup variability, a well-known social creativity strategy. Results confirmed our interpretation of ambivalence as a form of social creativity, and are discussed in terms of social identity concerns.


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