Abstract
In Canada, skilled immigrants with foreign credentials tend to experience difficulty in obtaining a suitable job in their chosen profession. This is because employers do not recognize the full value of such qualifications. We used structural equation modeling to test a social identity, relative deprivation, collective efficacy model in a prospective study of a sample of skilled immigrants (N = 234) disadvantaged by this “credentialing” problem. In this model, variables measured at time 1 successfully predicted participation in protest actions during the following 4 months, measured at time 2. First, we conceptualized the affective component of collective relative deprivation (CRD) as (i) the perception of discrimination by the majority group and (ii) the emotional reaction of anger, resentment and frustration in response to that discrimination. The results suggested that the latter positively influenced participation in protest actions but, unexpectedly, the former had the opposite effect. Second, the evidence suggested that respondents’ identification with Canada, but not their cultural group, indirectly influenced such participation through collective efficacy and the two components of affective CRD. Third, the novel hypothesis that status insecurity mediates the relationship between cognitive CRD and the two components of affective CRD was supported. Finally, the results suggest that collective efficacy was a strong and direct determinant of participation in protest actions. The implications of these results for the development of an integrated social psychological theory that can predict participation in political protests are discussed.
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Notes
A few respondents were on a visa (3.0 %) or were refugees (1.3 %). They were included in the study because they indicated their firm intention to become a permanent resident.
In an initial run of the study, data from 26 respondents (11.1 %) were collected by two of the authors (Garay and Robertson) in October and November of 2009. This run tested the procedure which proved to be successful.
Five of the six items in the Canadian identity scale were used to create parcels because the sixth item, “When you hear someone who is not Canadian criticize Canadians, to what extent do you feel personally criticized?” did not load as strongly on the factor (.41) as the other five items (.75 to .83). Similar parcels were created for the cultural identity scale. For the perceived discrimination scale the three parcels were created as follows. First, the scores on the four items which make up the perceived discrimination in the labour force subscale were averaged to form an index of this type of perceived discrimination. Then two indices of the perceived general discrimination subscale were created by averaging the scores on two sets of three items selected using the item-to-construct balance method.
This model constrained the relationship between strength of Canadian identity and cogCRD and strength of cultural identity and cogCRD to zero because, in an early run of the model, these relationships were estimated and were found to be small and non-significant (predicting protest actions between times 1 and 2: r = 0.02, r = .04, respectively, predicting past protest actions: r = 0.01, r = −.08, respectively).
An additional analysis was conducted in which missing values were estimated using the maximum likelihood estimation procedure (N = 123). This analysis also showed that the model was a good fit; robust CFI = 1.00 and sRMR = .031, χ 2S–B (11, N = 123) = 4.46, ns. In addition, the path coefficients had very similar values to those shown in Fig. 2 with the exception of the path from Canadian identity to the emotional component of affCRD which was non-significant (β = −.08). The senior author (Grant) is particularly averse to use any estimation procedure to infer how respondents might have answered a question that they had left missing, especially when the percentage of variance accounted for in the endogenous variables is relatively small as is the case here. Estimating missing values is also questionable because the distribution of some measures, including both the Canadian and the cultural identity measures, were significantly skewed (hence the use of the Satorra–Bentler scaled χ 2S–B and the associated adjustments to the standard errors of the unstandardized path coefficients). Yet the estimation procedure assumes the variables are distributed normally. Finally, it might be argued that estimating missing values is justified because it allows calculation of unbiased estimates of the population parameters from the sample. In the present study, however, the sample is idiosyncratic as the respondents were from cultural organizations known to the research assistants who had the same or similar cultural background. The data are valuable, therefore, because they allow a test of the theoretical model shown in Fig. 1 and not because they are a representative sample of skilled immigrants with credentialing problems.
We also tested a model in which cogCRD and status insecurity are correlated exogenous variables that independently influence affCRD. Again the results strongly support our model because the paths from cogCRD to perceived discrimination and to negative emotions are not significant. Then we tested a model in which cogCRD, status instability, and status illegitimacy were correlated exogenous variables. Only instability was related to the two components of affCRD (β = .23, p < .05 with negative emotions; β = .26, p < .01 with perceived discrimination) such that greater status instability was associated with more anger, resentment and frustration and more perceived discrimination. When status instability was introduced into the model as a potential mediator between cogCRD and the two components of affCRD, however, the path from cogCRD to this variable was not significant (β = −.04). In short, these additional analyses supported hypothesis 3 by showing that only status insecurity acted as mediator between cogCRD and the two components of affCRD.
Branscombe’s rejection—identification hypothesis states that minority group members who experience discrimination will identify more strongly with their group as they need to rely more on its resources in order to sustain their sense of well-being in the face of rejection (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999). This implies that the causal paths from Canadian identity and cultural identity to perceived discrimination are reversed. In order to test this hypothesis, a cross lagged correlational analysis was performed. The results showed that Canadian identity at time 1 correlated with perceived discrimination at time 2 controlling for perceived discrimination at time 1 (pr = .21, p < .05), but that perceived discrimination at time 1 did not correlate with Canadian identity at time 2 controlling for Canadian identity at time 1 (pr = .00, ns). A parallel analysis using cultural identity did not yield any significant effects, however. The analysis, therefore, suggests that the rejection–identification model is not supported, but in an unusual way: the path from a superordinate national identity to perceived discrimination does not appear to be reciprocal.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by an SSHRC bridging grant awarded to the first author by the University of Saskatchewan.
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Jana Garay is now working as a consultant in Mexico.
Appendix: The Protest Actions Measure
Appendix: The Protest Actions Measure
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1.
I have spent time helping other skilled immigrants from my cultural group find a job.
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2.
I have participated in peaceful demonstrations to improve the employment situation of skilled immigrants from my cultural group in Canada.
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3.
I have publicly supported a politician because of his/her commitment to resolving the employment problems faced by immigrants from my cultural group.
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4.
I have given money to an organization(s) that helps immigrants from my cultural group get established in the Canadian job market.
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5.
I have worked for a Canadian political party because one of its main objectives is to improve the employment situation of skilled immigrants from my cultural group.
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6.
I have worked with others from my cultural group to lobby local and/or provincial and/or Federal government(s) to improve the employment situation of skilled immigrants from my cultural group in Canada.
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7.
I have attended meetings to discuss the employment problems faced by immigrants from my cultural group.
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8.
I have contacted the media to publicize the employment problems faced by immigrants from my cultural group.
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9.
I have signed a petition to improve the employment problems faced by immigrants from my cultural group.
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10.
I have worked with a group of skilled immigrants and Canadians from many different countries in order to try and improve the employment conditions of all skilled immigrants to Canada.
Note Respondents were asked, at time 1, whether they had taken part in each of these protest actions in the past year. Then, at time 2, they were asked if they had taken part in each of these protest actions in the period between time 1 and time 2.
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Grant, P.R., Abrams, D., Robertson, D.W. et al. Predicting Protests by Disadvantaged Skilled Immigrants: A Test of an Integrated Social Identity, Relative Deprivation, Collective Efficacy (SIRDE) Model. Soc Just Res 28, 76–101 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-014-0229-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-014-0229-z