White Americans who dislike Jews also tend to endorse anti-Muslim attitudes, study suggests

A study in the United States found that around 46% of white Americans held medium or high anti-Muslim opinions back in 2014. Anti-Jewish opinions were much rarer, but most of the people holding these opinions also held anti-Muslim views as well. The paper was published in The Sociological Quarterly.

National identity, often rooted in a shared history, culture, and values, influences how citizens perceive and interact with those they consider ‘others’ or members of outgroups. In diverse societies, positive attitudes towards outgroups can bolster national unity by promoting inclusivity, respect for diversity, and a stronger sense of belonging among all citizens, irrespective of their backgrounds. On the contrary, negative attitudes towards other groups, especially when these groups are integral members of the society and fellow citizens, can lead to social fragmentation, discrimination, and conflict, thereby undermining the cohesive fabric of national identity.

In the United States and much of Europe, Muslims have increasingly become the central ‘other’ in recent nationalist movements. Research indicates a shift in recent years, moving the rejection of Muslims from a fringe political topic to the forefront of political discourse. This trend particularly intensified during the 2016 U.S. elections, leading to notable consequences.

However, Jews have been targets of hate crimes for decades, although these incidents have received relatively little public attention. Many extreme far-right groups exhibit strong anti-Semitism, aligning with insignia and ideologies reminiscent of the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War II.

Study authors Joseph Gerteis and Nir Rotem wanted to investigate the links between Islamophobia (i.e., anti-Muslim views) and anti-Semitism (i.e., anti-Jewish views) among white Americans. They aimed to understand the prevalence of these views and to determine whether they represent distinct patterns of opinion or if the same individuals typically express both types of opinions.

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The researchers utilized data from the 2014 Boundaries in the American Mosaic survey, which included responses from 2,521 individuals across the United States and was conducted by GfK Group’s KnowledgePanel. The timing of the survey is crucial as it precedes significant events such as the 2016 election, the Muslim ban, and the subsequent rise of white nationalist movements. The analysis presented in the paper focused on responses from 1,555 white participants.

The researchers focused on responses that reflected attitudes towards Muslims and Jews. Questions in the survey pertained to the cultural belonging of Muslims and Jews (e.g., whether participants would approve of their child marrying a Jew or Muslim, their agreement with a Muslim or Jewish ‘vision of America’), their loyalty, assimilation, and perceived power (e.g., ‘more loyal to their religion or Israel than to America’, ‘less like other Americans’, ‘have too much power’), and associated problems (e.g., ‘a threat to public order and safety’, ‘do not share my morals or values’, ‘take jobs and resources’, ‘are intolerant of others’, ‘want to take over political institutions’, ‘do not contribute to my community’, ‘are dependent on welfare and government’).”

The results showed that levels of anti-Muslim sentiment were several times higher than anti-Jewish sentiment. A clear majority of participants disapproved of a marriage between their child and a Muslim and roughly two thirds considered Muslims to be more loyal to their religion than to America. About one in four participants associated Muslims with public safety issues, while one in three believed they did not share their moral values and were intolerant.

In contrast, only about 17% of participants objected to their child marrying a Jew. Thirteen percent disagreed with Jews’ ‘vision of America’, 14% perceived them as more loyal to Israel than to America, and other negative views were less frequent.

Further analysis identified four distinct groups among the participants. The largest group, comprising 54% of participants, held few or no negative views towards both Muslims and Jews (low anti-Muslim, low anti-Jew). Another group, encompassing 26% of participants, exhibited moderate anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish views. The third group, making up 17% of participants, held strong anti-Muslim views but low anti-Jewish attitudes. The smallest group, approximately 4% of participants, harbored highly negative views towards both Jews and Muslims.

Membership in these groups was not associated with education. Men were twice as likely as women to hold high anti-Muslim, but low anti-Jew views. Older individuals were also more prone to this configuration of views. People with lower income were more likely to be in the fourth group (strong negative views of both groups). Republicans and evangelical Protestants were much less likely to be in the first group than in any of the other three groups.

“Although anti-Muslim opinion is more extensive, the two track together empirically and share a cultural logic as connected forms of ethno-religious boundary-making. Latent class analysis shows that anti-Semitism is nested within anti-Muslim attitudes, with political and religious identifications as consistent predictors of opinion,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on the attitudes towards two important religious and cultures groups among white Americans as they were in 2014. However, it’s important to note that attitudes and opinions are not fixed psychological traits. They can and do evolve, and the results of this survey reflect the views of the study participants as they were a decade ago. Current and future findings might differ.

The paper, “Connecting the “Others”: White Anti-Semitic and Anti-Muslim Views in America”, was authored by Joseph Gerteis, Nir Rotem.