Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 2002
Education is often found to be a strong determinant of ethnic prejudice. However, there is prelim... more Education is often found to be a strong determinant of ethnic prejudice. However, there is preliminary evidence that this educational effect varies across countries. Moreover, there are also theoretical arguments to expect cross-national variances in the educational effect on ethnic prejudice. From both a cultural and structural perspective, we set out to explain these cross-national variances in the educational effect. Results of multilevel analyses on data from 11 European countries show that the cultural perspective is more fruitful to explain cross-national variances in the strength of the educational effect on ethnic prejudice than the structural perspective: a country's democratic tradition and degree of religious heterogeneity are important for the strength of the educational effect on ethnic prejudice, whereas a country's ethnic composition and unemployment rate are less relevant.
In this contribution we argue that previous research on religiosity and prejudice against ethnic ... more In this contribution we argue that previous research on religiosity and prejudice against ethnic minorities has been seriously hampered. Therefore, we set out to establish the relationship between different dimensions of religiosity and prejudice in 11 cross-national ...
This article uses data from three studies to examine changing reactions toward ethnic minority gr... more This article uses data from three studies to examine changing reactions toward ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands (1979–2002). Using realistic conflict theory, Study 1 focuses on support for discrimination of immigrant groups in general. The findings indicate that this support is more widespread in times of high levels of immigration, when the unemployment level has recently risen strongly, and among cohorts that grew to maturity in times of large immigration waves or high unemployment rates. Studies 2 and 3 focus on changing feelings toward different ethnic out‐groups in an ideological context (2001–2004) marked by a shift from multiculturalism toward assimilation. Study 2 showed that the shift toward assimilation negatively affected Dutch participants' feelings toward Islamic outgroups, but not to other minority groups. Study 3 used an experimental design, and the results showed that ethnic attitudes are more negative in an assimilation compared to a multicultural conte...
This study aims to explain the variation in time spent on watching television in 15 European Unio... more This study aims to explain the variation in time spent on watching television in 15 European Union countries, using determinants defined at the individual level, and characteristics defined at the national level, such as the number of channels and nature of the television supply. The results of the multi-level analysis show that the number of channels in countries has no effect on time spent on televi sion. Yet, the more diverse the programme supply on public broadcasting chan nels in different countries, the less time people spend on watching television. However, this relation decreases when more commercial channels are available to watch. This suggests that EU citizens, having commercial channels as alternat ives, avoid a diverse programme supply in favour of commercial programme supply.
On the basis of the research literature, five aspects of the extreme right-wing ideology were dis... more On the basis of the research literature, five aspects of the extreme right-wing ideology were distinguished : racism, extreme ethnic nationalism, the preference for a strong leadership, anti-parliamentarianism, and an anti-left attitude. The data of a postal survey in the spring of 1991 of a representative sample of the Flemish population in Belgium show that the items with which these extreme right-wing topics were operationalized show a one dimensional structure. About 10% to 25% of the interviewees agree with the individual items and about 20% of the subjects scored on the extreme right-wing side of the scale. The 'hardcore' of extreme right-wing respondents is, however, much smaller (about 1% to 2%), and does not seem to be higher in Flanders than in most of the surrounding countries. The right-wing extremism scale developed correlates as expected with a previously developed typology that integrates the attitude with respect to autochthons and allochthons. The analysis...
This study investigates to what extent different dimensions of religiosity are differentially rel... more This study investigates to what extent different dimensions of religiosity are differentially related to rejection of homosexuality in countries around the world and, moreover, to what extent these relationships can be explained by particular mediators: authoritarianism and traditional gender beliefs. The theoretical framework includes in particular socialization and integration theories. Hypotheses are tested by employing multilevel models, using data from the World Values Survey, covering 55 countries around the world for the period 2010-2014. The results indicate that every dimension of religiosity has a positive relationship with rejection of homosexuality, rejecting some of our hypotheses: those who adhere to any denomination more often attend religious services and have stronger religious particularistic beliefs, or those who are more religiously salient do reject homosexuality more strongly. Sobel tests and bootstrapping procedures indicate that the relationships between the dimensions of religiosity and rejection of homosexuality are partially explained by authoritarianism and traditional gender beliefs.
Although anti-immigrant attitudes represent a widespread social problem in many European societie... more Although anti-immigrant attitudes represent a widespread social problem in many European societies, research has only partially understood the role the demographic size of the immigrant population plays for the prevalence of such attitudes. In this study, we use group threat-and intergroup contact theory to derive competing hypotheses on the role the size of the immigrant population plays for explaining the anti-immigrant attitudes of Dutch citizens. To this end, we used structural equation modeling with robust standard errors on nationally representative individual-level survey data enriched with official municipality-level statistics. We found empirical evidence for both group threat-and intergroup contact theory. Objective measurements of immigrant group size corresponded with subjective perceptions of a larger immigrant group size. Conversely, subjective perceptions of a larger immigrant group size were associated with perceptions of threatened group interests, which in turn related to anti-immigrant attitudes. On the other hand, however, larger immigrant group size facilitates intergroup contact, which was negatively associated with perceived threat and subsequent anti-immigrant attitudes.
Deze studie richt zich op de verklaring van de tijd die individuen in vijftien landen besteden aa... more Deze studie richt zich op de verklaring van de tijd die individuen in vijftien landen besteden aan televisiekijken op basis van persoonskenmerken. Ook crossnationale verschillen in het aantal zenders per land en de aard van het televisieaanbod worden aangemerkt als verklaring voor de tijd besteed aan televisie.
This paper addresses the question as to why many Christians hold prejudice against Jews. We try t... more This paper addresses the question as to why many Christians hold prejudice against Jews. We try to find out whether, and to explain why the relationship between Christian religion and anti-Semitism in the Netherlands is inherent to Christian religion, spurious, or suppressed. We offer a theoretical model that combines the explanation of Glock and Stark and suggestions made by their critics. We test this theoretical model using data from a 1990-91 national Dutch survey (n= 1,134). Our findings indicate that the relationship between ...
In most studies on ethnic attitudes, a rather strong negative relationship has been found between... more In most studies on ethnic attitudes, a rather strong negative relationship has been found between educational attainment and positive ingroup attitudes (or negative outgroup attitudes). However, it is not well known to what extent this educational effect varies across different national contexts. This study investigated the effect of education on different dimensions of nationalism and ethnic exclusionism with the use of 1995 survey data gathered in 22 countries. Notions from socialization theory were used to test whether the educational effect varies according to the length of liberal-democratic tradition and the degree of religious heterogeneity within a country. Results indicate that educational attainment is strongly related to ethnic exclusionism as well as chauvinism, but not to patriotism. Moreover, the effect of education on ethnic exclusionism is smaller in recently established democracies. The hypothesis regarding stronger educational effects in societies with more religious heterogeneity was not supported.
Convergent and discriminant validity of religiosity measures among church members and non-members... more Convergent and discriminant validity of religiosity measures among church members and non-members Scheepers, Peer; Janssen, Jacques; Reitsma, J.
Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
A bstract TJiis study explores differences of ethnocentrism and related phenomena in The Netherla... more A bstract TJiis study explores differences of ethnocentrism and related phenomena in The Netherlands and Flanders on the basis of two comparable surveys conducted in 1990 and 1991. The explanatory models derived from theories of ethnocentrism are largely confirmed. People in Flanders subscribe more strongly to both components of ethnocen trism (i.e. to an unfavourable attitude towards out-groups and to a favourable attitude towards the in-group) as well as to a number of its predictors such as authoritarianism, anomie, and social cultural localism. The interpretations of these findings involve historical processes, intergroup tensions, economic fluctuations, and the organisational embeddedness of right-wing extremism in The Netherlands and in Flanders.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1995
Many thanks to Charles Y. Glock and the JSSR reviewers for their expert comments on a previous dr... more Many thanks to Charles Y. Glock and the JSSR reviewers for their expert comments on a previous draft o f this paper. While acknowledging their support we do, of course, remain responsible for all omissions and errors o f fax:t and interpretation. This research was made possible by a Fellowship of the KNAW granted to the first author.
This study aims to test whether exposure to certain newspapers leads people to perceive ethnic mi... more This study aims to test whether exposure to certain newspapers leads people to perceive ethnic minorities as more threatening. Building on cultivation theory as developed by Gerbner, this study extends his theory by looking at the possible eþects of exposure to newspapers. Results indicate that exposure to a newspaper characterized by negative reporting about ethnic crime leads people to perceive ethnic minorities as more of a threat than exposure to other newspapers does.
Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 2002
Education is often found to be a strong determinant of ethnic prejudice. However, there is prelim... more Education is often found to be a strong determinant of ethnic prejudice. However, there is preliminary evidence that this educational effect varies across countries. Moreover, there are also theoretical arguments to expect cross-national variances in the educational effect on ethnic prejudice. From both a cultural and structural perspective, we set out to explain these cross-national variances in the educational effect. Results of multilevel analyses on data from 11 European countries show that the cultural perspective is more fruitful to explain cross-national variances in the strength of the educational effect on ethnic prejudice than the structural perspective: a country's democratic tradition and degree of religious heterogeneity are important for the strength of the educational effect on ethnic prejudice, whereas a country's ethnic composition and unemployment rate are less relevant.
In this contribution we argue that previous research on religiosity and prejudice against ethnic ... more In this contribution we argue that previous research on religiosity and prejudice against ethnic minorities has been seriously hampered. Therefore, we set out to establish the relationship between different dimensions of religiosity and prejudice in 11 cross-national ...
This article uses data from three studies to examine changing reactions toward ethnic minority gr... more This article uses data from three studies to examine changing reactions toward ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands (1979–2002). Using realistic conflict theory, Study 1 focuses on support for discrimination of immigrant groups in general. The findings indicate that this support is more widespread in times of high levels of immigration, when the unemployment level has recently risen strongly, and among cohorts that grew to maturity in times of large immigration waves or high unemployment rates. Studies 2 and 3 focus on changing feelings toward different ethnic out‐groups in an ideological context (2001–2004) marked by a shift from multiculturalism toward assimilation. Study 2 showed that the shift toward assimilation negatively affected Dutch participants' feelings toward Islamic outgroups, but not to other minority groups. Study 3 used an experimental design, and the results showed that ethnic attitudes are more negative in an assimilation compared to a multicultural conte...
This study aims to explain the variation in time spent on watching television in 15 European Unio... more This study aims to explain the variation in time spent on watching television in 15 European Union countries, using determinants defined at the individual level, and characteristics defined at the national level, such as the number of channels and nature of the television supply. The results of the multi-level analysis show that the number of channels in countries has no effect on time spent on televi sion. Yet, the more diverse the programme supply on public broadcasting chan nels in different countries, the less time people spend on watching television. However, this relation decreases when more commercial channels are available to watch. This suggests that EU citizens, having commercial channels as alternat ives, avoid a diverse programme supply in favour of commercial programme supply.
On the basis of the research literature, five aspects of the extreme right-wing ideology were dis... more On the basis of the research literature, five aspects of the extreme right-wing ideology were distinguished : racism, extreme ethnic nationalism, the preference for a strong leadership, anti-parliamentarianism, and an anti-left attitude. The data of a postal survey in the spring of 1991 of a representative sample of the Flemish population in Belgium show that the items with which these extreme right-wing topics were operationalized show a one dimensional structure. About 10% to 25% of the interviewees agree with the individual items and about 20% of the subjects scored on the extreme right-wing side of the scale. The 'hardcore' of extreme right-wing respondents is, however, much smaller (about 1% to 2%), and does not seem to be higher in Flanders than in most of the surrounding countries. The right-wing extremism scale developed correlates as expected with a previously developed typology that integrates the attitude with respect to autochthons and allochthons. The analysis...
This study investigates to what extent different dimensions of religiosity are differentially rel... more This study investigates to what extent different dimensions of religiosity are differentially related to rejection of homosexuality in countries around the world and, moreover, to what extent these relationships can be explained by particular mediators: authoritarianism and traditional gender beliefs. The theoretical framework includes in particular socialization and integration theories. Hypotheses are tested by employing multilevel models, using data from the World Values Survey, covering 55 countries around the world for the period 2010-2014. The results indicate that every dimension of religiosity has a positive relationship with rejection of homosexuality, rejecting some of our hypotheses: those who adhere to any denomination more often attend religious services and have stronger religious particularistic beliefs, or those who are more religiously salient do reject homosexuality more strongly. Sobel tests and bootstrapping procedures indicate that the relationships between the dimensions of religiosity and rejection of homosexuality are partially explained by authoritarianism and traditional gender beliefs.
Although anti-immigrant attitudes represent a widespread social problem in many European societie... more Although anti-immigrant attitudes represent a widespread social problem in many European societies, research has only partially understood the role the demographic size of the immigrant population plays for the prevalence of such attitudes. In this study, we use group threat-and intergroup contact theory to derive competing hypotheses on the role the size of the immigrant population plays for explaining the anti-immigrant attitudes of Dutch citizens. To this end, we used structural equation modeling with robust standard errors on nationally representative individual-level survey data enriched with official municipality-level statistics. We found empirical evidence for both group threat-and intergroup contact theory. Objective measurements of immigrant group size corresponded with subjective perceptions of a larger immigrant group size. Conversely, subjective perceptions of a larger immigrant group size were associated with perceptions of threatened group interests, which in turn related to anti-immigrant attitudes. On the other hand, however, larger immigrant group size facilitates intergroup contact, which was negatively associated with perceived threat and subsequent anti-immigrant attitudes.
Deze studie richt zich op de verklaring van de tijd die individuen in vijftien landen besteden aa... more Deze studie richt zich op de verklaring van de tijd die individuen in vijftien landen besteden aan televisiekijken op basis van persoonskenmerken. Ook crossnationale verschillen in het aantal zenders per land en de aard van het televisieaanbod worden aangemerkt als verklaring voor de tijd besteed aan televisie.
This paper addresses the question as to why many Christians hold prejudice against Jews. We try t... more This paper addresses the question as to why many Christians hold prejudice against Jews. We try to find out whether, and to explain why the relationship between Christian religion and anti-Semitism in the Netherlands is inherent to Christian religion, spurious, or suppressed. We offer a theoretical model that combines the explanation of Glock and Stark and suggestions made by their critics. We test this theoretical model using data from a 1990-91 national Dutch survey (n= 1,134). Our findings indicate that the relationship between ...
In most studies on ethnic attitudes, a rather strong negative relationship has been found between... more In most studies on ethnic attitudes, a rather strong negative relationship has been found between educational attainment and positive ingroup attitudes (or negative outgroup attitudes). However, it is not well known to what extent this educational effect varies across different national contexts. This study investigated the effect of education on different dimensions of nationalism and ethnic exclusionism with the use of 1995 survey data gathered in 22 countries. Notions from socialization theory were used to test whether the educational effect varies according to the length of liberal-democratic tradition and the degree of religious heterogeneity within a country. Results indicate that educational attainment is strongly related to ethnic exclusionism as well as chauvinism, but not to patriotism. Moreover, the effect of education on ethnic exclusionism is smaller in recently established democracies. The hypothesis regarding stronger educational effects in societies with more religious heterogeneity was not supported.
Convergent and discriminant validity of religiosity measures among church members and non-members... more Convergent and discriminant validity of religiosity measures among church members and non-members Scheepers, Peer; Janssen, Jacques; Reitsma, J.
Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
A bstract TJiis study explores differences of ethnocentrism and related phenomena in The Netherla... more A bstract TJiis study explores differences of ethnocentrism and related phenomena in The Netherlands and Flanders on the basis of two comparable surveys conducted in 1990 and 1991. The explanatory models derived from theories of ethnocentrism are largely confirmed. People in Flanders subscribe more strongly to both components of ethnocen trism (i.e. to an unfavourable attitude towards out-groups and to a favourable attitude towards the in-group) as well as to a number of its predictors such as authoritarianism, anomie, and social cultural localism. The interpretations of these findings involve historical processes, intergroup tensions, economic fluctuations, and the organisational embeddedness of right-wing extremism in The Netherlands and in Flanders.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1995
Many thanks to Charles Y. Glock and the JSSR reviewers for their expert comments on a previous dr... more Many thanks to Charles Y. Glock and the JSSR reviewers for their expert comments on a previous draft o f this paper. While acknowledging their support we do, of course, remain responsible for all omissions and errors o f fax:t and interpretation. This research was made possible by a Fellowship of the KNAW granted to the first author.
This study aims to test whether exposure to certain newspapers leads people to perceive ethnic mi... more This study aims to test whether exposure to certain newspapers leads people to perceive ethnic minorities as more threatening. Building on cultivation theory as developed by Gerbner, this study extends his theory by looking at the possible eþects of exposure to newspapers. Results indicate that exposure to a newspaper characterized by negative reporting about ethnic crime leads people to perceive ethnic minorities as more of a threat than exposure to other newspapers does.
Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing... more Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
Uploads
Papers by Peer Scheepers