What factors explain majority members' anti-Muslim prejudice? This is an increasingly important question to ask, but to date only relatively few studies have sought to provide answers from a cross-national comparative perspective. This study aims to help fill this gap. Using data from the seventh round of the European Social Survey (ESS) linked with country-level characteristics, our results indicate that (a) a larger Muslim population size, (b) more liberal immigrant integration policies and (c) greater state support of religion are all associated with lower levels of majority members' negative attitudes towards Muslim immigration -our indicator of anti-Muslim prejudice. Such attitudes, however, prove to be unrelated to (d) cross-national differences in the frequency of negative immigration-related news reports as measured by the ESS media claims data. Collectively, these findings bring us one important step closer towards a better understanding of interethnic relations between majority members and Muslim immigrants in European host societies.
In this article, we examine the reconstruction and commodification of the national space through digital technologies by using the case of Estonian e-residency. E-residency or ‘virtual residency’ is an initiative of the Estonian government which gives foreigners global access to Estonian e-services via state-issued digital identity. We explore the ways in which the ideas of the ‘virtual state’ and ‘virtual residency’ have been employed for purposes of nation branding and national reputation management, and how the different logics of nation branding and nation building combined in the concept of e-residency have been negotiated in the national context. The study draws on a qualitative textual analysis of the official website of e-residency directed at foreign audiences and the national media coverage of the project addressing domestic publics. The analysis indicates that while the imagery constructed around the notions of the ‘virtual state’ and ‘virtual residency’ makes it possible to turn the national space into a commodity, presented outwards as a globally extensible and open transnational space, domestically it makes it possible to appeal to ‘intact national space’ and to legitimise e-residency as a ‘socio-culturally safe’, digitally mediated internationalisation of the society. This article forms part of the Theorizing Media in Nation Branding Special Issue.
The paper will focus on the structures of collective identities of the Russian-speaking population of Estonia. Particular cultural and political orientations held by individuals and frequencies of self-categorization as Russian, ex-Soviet, citizens of Estonia, etc. have been discussed extensively. Much less attention has been paid to the structures of self-identification, which draw out people's thinking patterns. The paper is based on the methodological premise that analysis and interpretation of the disposition of different types of self-categorization is worth the effort, as it helps to elucidate the general meta-structures behind people's interpretation of different identification narratives and provides an opportunity to make prognoses about future scenarios.
This article focuses on generational differences in spatial mobility. Assuming that the ability to cope with the social transformations related to growing mobility varies significantly across generations, we use mobile positioning data collected in Estonia during 2014 providing four main indicators, namely, the number of locations visited and the distances between visited locations, within Estonia and abroad. The results indicate that spatial mobility declines linearly with age; however, a high degree of heterogeneity exists within age groups. Whereas the spatial mobility of the most active members of the younger generation takes place mostly within Estonia, among the most active older generation focus their activity beyond its borders. The study reveals “delayed mobility” patterns among the most active groups of the older generation and a new “immobility culture” among the younger generation in terms of cross‐border activities in a transition society.
This study aims to explain the positions regarding change in language of instruction in Russian-medium schools. The empirical basis for this article is a representative survey conducted in 2009 among pupils (n = 1026) and teachers (n = 548) in Estonia. The results indicate that in the case of teachers' language proficiency, individual resources (citizenship, Estonian-language media) dominate over regional (ethnic composition) ones. Regarding pupils' language proficiency, apart from individual factors (gender, Estonian-language media), school-level activities are essential (language immersion, teachers' in-service training). While pupils' positive attitudes towards education change are characterized by individual and school cultural resources, teachers' attitudes are more autonomous and express general societal affiliation. The article suggests that the "cultural translation" ability of the relevant individuals and in the public turns out to have critical relevance in the context of implementing integration policy and in the communication of changes in education.
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