Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Moderating Role of Group Identification in Perceptions of Diversity—Exemplified by a Vignette Analysis of Diversely Characterized Muslims in Germany

  • Published:
Journal of International Migration and Integration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper explores the role of in-group identification of the members of the majority group in relation with the recognition of diverse Muslims in German society. It claims that comprehensive recognition does not only depend on the Muslims’ achievement of skills and acquirement of characteristics that are associated with the majority society. The crucial factor for accepting diversity is the identification of the perceivers with his own group. To investigate this hypothesis, the paper uses representative secondary data from a vignette experiment employed in a telephone survey in Germany. In particular, it examines perceptions of Christian respondents with low and high group identification regarding a hypothetical situation in which a Muslim or a Christian person marries into the respondent’s family. Among the respondents with low group identification, the Muslim category loses relevance when the person in question is a woman and is combined with the achievement category of volunteering at the retirement home. Differences in evaluations of a Muslim woman and an identically characterized Christian woman disappear completely. When the person in question is a man, none of the used vignette variables work to change the perception of the Muslim person and differences in evaluations of a Muslim man and identically characterized Christian man remain. The results have practical implications for understanding integration as a one-sided process of adaptation to the norms and values of the majority society solely carried out by migrant or minority groups. Results are discussed and suggestions for further research are made.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alba, R., & Nee, V. (2003). Remaking the American mainstream: assimilation and contemporary immigration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Badawia, T. (2002). Der dritte Stuhl: Eine Grounded Theory-Studie zum kreativen Umgang bildungserfolgreicher Immigrantenjugendlicher mit kultureller Differenz. Frankfurt am Main: IKO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beigang, S., Kalkum, D., & Schrenker, M. (2014). Methodenbericht zur Studie Deutschland postmigrantisch. Berlin. Retrieved from https://www.projekte.hu-berlin.de/de/junited/methodenbericht-deutschland-postmigrantisch__.pdf/view.

  • Brambor, T., Clark, W. R., & Golder, M. (2005). Understanding interaction models. Improving empirical analyses. Political Analysis, 14(1), 63–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canan, C. (2015). Identitätsstatus von Einheimischen mit Migrationshintergrund. Wiesbaden: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Canan, C., & Foroutan, N. (2016). Changing perceptions? Effects of multiple social categorisation on German population’s perception of Muslims. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 42(12), 1905–1924.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canan, C., & Simon, M. K. (2019). Immigration, diversity and the relevance of ascriptive characteristics in defining national identity across 21 countries and 28 West-German districts. Migration Studies, 7(2), 201–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crisp, R. J., & Hewstone, M. (1999). Differential evaluation of crossed category groups: patterns, processes, and reducing intergroup bias. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 2(4), 307–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crisp, R. J., & Hewstone, M. (2007). Multiple social categorization. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 163–254). San Diego: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dimaggio, P., & Mohr, J. (1985). Cultural capital, educational attainment, and marital selection. American Journal of Sociology, 90(6), 1231–1261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Egeler, R. (2013). Zensus 2011—Fakten zur Bevölkerung in Deutschland. Statement von Präsident Roderich Egeler. Pressekonferenz am 31.05.2013. Retrieved from https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressekonferenzen/pressekonferenzen-uebersicht.html.

  • Ehrkamp, P. (2010). The limits of multicultural tolerance? Liberal democracy and media portrayals of Muslim migrant women in Germany. Space and Polity, 14(1), 13–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foroutan, N., Canan, C., Arnold, S., Schwarze, B., Beigang, S., & Kalkum, D. (2014). Deutschland postmigrantisch I. Identität. Erste Ergebnisse. Berlin: Gesellschaft, Religion Retrieved from https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/20573.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fu, V. K. (2001). Racial intermarriage pairings. Demography, 38(2), 147–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerhards, J., & Hans, S. (2009). From Hasan to Herbert: name-giving patterns of immigrant parents between acculturation and ethnic maintenance. American Journal of Sociology, 114(4), 1102–1128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson-King, E., Henderson-King, D., Zhermer, N., Posokhova, S., & Chiker, V. (1997). In-group favoritism and perceived similarity: a look at Russians’ perceptions in the Post-Soviet era. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(10), 1013–1021.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogg, M. A., & Terry, D. J. (2000). Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 121–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jann, B. (2014). Plotting regression coefficients and other estimates. Stata Journal, 14(4), 708–737.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jetten, J., Spears, R., & Manstead, A. S. R. (2001). Similarity as a source of differentiation: the role of group identification. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31(6), 621–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jetten, J., Spears, R., & Postmes, T. (2004). Intergroup distinctiveness and differentiation: a meta-analytic integration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(6), 862–879.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalmijn, M. (1998). Intermarriage and homogamy: causes, patterns, trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 395–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Long, J. S., & Freese, J. (2014). Regression models for categorical dependent variables using Stata (3rd ed.). College Station: Stata Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marques, J. M., & Paez, D. (1994). The ‘black sheep effect’: social categorization, rejection of ingroup deviates, and perception of group variability. European Review of Social Psychology, 5(1), 37–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng, M. (2015). Silences about Sarrazin’s racism in contemporary Germany. The Journal of Modern History, 87(1), 102–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moghaddam, F. M., & Stringer, P. (1988). Out-group similarity and intergroup bias. The Journal of Social Psychology, 128(1), 105–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mutz, D. C. (2011). Population-based survey experiments. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Paradis, C. (2000). Reinforcing adjectives: a cognitive semantic perspective on grammaticalization. In R. Bermudez-Otero, D. Denison, R. M. Hogg, & C. B. McCully (Eds.), Generative Theory and Corpus Studies (pp. 233–258). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2001). Legacies: the story of the immigrant second generation. Berkeley, New York: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratsinakis, M. (2018). Established and outsider nationals: immigrant–native relations and the everyday politics of national belonging. Ethnicities, 18(1), 3–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. (2007). E pluribus unum: diversity and community in the twenty-first century. The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize lecture. Scandinavian Political Studies, 30(2), 137–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Razack, S. H. (2004). Imperilled Muslim women, dangerous Muslim men and civilised Europeans: Legal and social responses to forced marriages. Feminist Legal Studies, 12(2), 129–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roccas, S., & Schwartz, S. H. (1993). Effects of intergroup similarity on intergroup relations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 23(6), 581–595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rostock, P., & Berghahn, S. (2008). The ambivalent role of gender in redefining the German nation. Ethnicities, 8(3), 345–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, J., & Lang, C. (2014). Social Mobility, habitus and identity formation in the Turkish-German second generation. New Diversities, 16(1), 89–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schubert, H.-J. (2006). Integration, Ethnizität und Bildung. Berliner Journal für Soziologie, 16(3), 291–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stichs, A. (2016). Wie viele Muslime leben in Deutschland? Eine Hochrechnung über die Anzahl der Muslime in Deutschland zum Stand 31. Dezember 2015. Working Paper 71. Nürnberg: Federal Office for Migration and Refugees.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: studies in social psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of intergroup relations (2nd ed., pp. 7–24). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, J. C., Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: a self-categorization theory. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Center for Integration and Migration Research, Humboldt University to Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099, Berlin, Germany

    Coskun Canan

Authors
  1. Coskun Canan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Coskun Canan.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the Muslim and Christian woman vignette
Full size table
Table 2 Descriptive statistics of the Muslim and Christian man vignette
Full size table
Table 3 Woman marrying into the family: logit for negative perception
Full size table
Table 4 Man marrying into the family: logit for negative perception
Full size table
Fig. 11
figure 11

Intergroup bias, by respondents’ group identification, man religious affiliation and name in the vignette. a Marginal effects of Muslim man`s German vs. Arabic name; b predicted probabilities of disapproval of man with Arabic name. Dashed lines, Muslim. Dotted lines, Christian

Full size image

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Canan, C. The Moderating Role of Group Identification in Perceptions of Diversity—Exemplified by a Vignette Analysis of Diversely Characterized Muslims in Germany. Int. Migration & Integration 22, 123–144 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-019-00722-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-019-00722-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation