Negative Stereotypical Portrayals of Muslims in Right-Wing Populist Campaigns: Perceived Discrimination, Social Identity Threats, and Hostility Among Young Muslim Adults

Abstract

Anti‐Islamic sentiments have become central to right‐wing populist mobilization in Western societies, which often results in negative portrayals of Muslims in political campaigns. Although these portrayals may have detrimental effects on minority members' identity formation and attitudes toward majority members, little is known about their effects on members of the depicted group. A lab experiment with 145 young Muslims reveals that right‐wing populist ad exposure increases perceived discrimination, which in turn decreases individuals' self‐esteem and national identification, and encourages hostility toward majority members. Religious identification, in contrast, is not affected by ad exposure. Implications of these findings for intergroup relations and democratic processes are discussed.

Voting “Against Islamization”? How Anti‐Islamic Right‐Wing, Populist Political Campaign Ads Influence Explicit and Implicit Attitudes Toward Muslims as Well as Voting Preferences

“…The reason for this is negative implicit automatic associations, which may remain activated and unintentionally influence individuals’ behavioral intentions despite being explicitly rejected (Payne & Dal Cin, ). By openly and blatantly ostracizing immigrants and religious minority members such as Muslims (Schmuck et al, ), right‐wing populist parties tend to violate societal norms of tolerance and egalitarianism (Bos et al, ). Voters may therefore not openly agree with a party that employs simplistic campaign slogans and portrayals (Huber & Lapinski, ).…”

“…Using a key principle of populist communication, a black and white rhetoric, right‐wing populist parties present simple solutions for people’s growing fears about increasing Muslim immigration: a total exclusion of Muslims from “the people.” This is a successful strategy—as growing vote shares for right‐wing populist parties across Europe demonstrate. However, while increasing their electoral support, right‐wing, populist campaign poster ads may also harm integration processes of Muslims in Western societies as a side effect (Schmuck et al, ). In particular, our finding that right‐wing populist posters may foster resentments against minority groups “under the radar” of conscious awareness seems alarming.…”

“…Findings from previous research have repeatedly observed an increase in hostile attitudes toward Muslims in response to stereotypical media content (Saleem & Anderson, ; Saleem et al, ). Additionally, previous research suggests that right‐wing, populist political campaign ads can significantly shape individuals’ political attitudes (e.g., Matthes & Schmuck, ; Schmuck & Matthes, ; Schmuck, Matthes, & Paul, ). Based on the mentioned theoretical considerations and empirical results, we expected:

H2 : Exposure to right‐wing, populist poster ads enhances negative explicit attitudes toward Muslims.

…”

The Mediating Role of Multiple Group Identities in the Relations between Religious Discrimination and Muslim‐American Adolescents’ Adjustment

“…There are limited studies on the religious discrimination of Muslim minorities in the United States, but studies in the European context have revealed that religious discrimination may be particularly salient for Muslim minorities mental health, such as psychological distress, anxiety, depression, self‐esteem, and anger (e.g., Hassan, Rousseau, & Moreau, ; Jasperse, Ward, & Jose, ; Schmuck, Matthes, & Paul, ). However, more studies are needed to better understand the implications of religious discrimination in the United States given that evidence from Europe indicates that these relations depend on the sociocultural and sociopolitical context, including the compatibility of individuals’ religious and national identities (e.g., Kunst, Tajamal, Sam, & Ulleberg, ).…”

When psychological contract is violated: Revisiting the Rejection-Disidentification Model of immigrant integration

“…This reaction to perceived disadvantage was originally attested in longitudinal studies among Ingrian-Finnish returnees from Russia and from the former Soviet Union (Jasinskaja-Lahti et al, 2009;Jasinskaja-Lahti, Mähönen, & Ketokivi, 2012;. Since then, the RDIM and closely related theorisations have continued to gain support in studies among Norwegian-Pakistani and German-Turkish Muslims (Kunst, Tajamal, Sam, & Ulleberg, 2012), Sunni Muslim immigrants of Turkish origin in Germany and the Netherlands (Maliepaard & Verkuyten, 2018), refugees in the Netherlands and Spain (Bobowik, Martinovic, Basabe, Barsties, & Wachter, 2017), first-generation Latino immigrants in the United States (Wiley, Lawrence, Figueroa, & Percontino, 2013) and in a laboratory study with an international sample of young Muslims (Schmuck, Matthes, & Paul, 2017), only to list some of the most recent.…”