11:20 - 13:00
P2-S32
Room: -1.A.04
Chair/s:
Ilona Erzsébet Lahdelma
Discussant/s:
Alessandra Stampi-Bombelli
The Unseen Divide: Analyzing Disparities in Perceived Ethnic Majority-Minority Conflicts Among Immigrants and Non-Immigrants in Germany
P2-S32-4
Presented by: Naman Rawat, Conrad Ziller
Naman Rawat 1Conrad Ziller 2
1 Stockholm University
2 University of Duisburg-Essen
Previous research on integration of immigrants highlights a significant yet often overlooked gap in the perception of discrimination, whereby immigrants and ethnic minorities report considerably higher levels of discrimination, while the majority population severely underestimates the extent of discrimination experienced by these groups. This, in turn, may lead to additional conflicts as these minority groups feel marginalized and majority groups refrain from supporting measures that reduce inequality. This paper makes a novel contribution to the literature on perceptions of discrimination by highlighting this often-overlooked gap and systematically examining its underlying determinants. Empirically, we utilize a unique and fine-grained geo-coded panel survey situated in Germany that oversamples immigrants from predominantly Islamic countries – groups that are particularly prone to experience discrimination. The results show that immigrants perceive higher levels of harassment and violence toward ethnic minorities than non-immigrants, while this gap is largely explained by different levels of discrimination experiences. Results from longitudinal two-way fixed effects panel models demonstrate that sustained and meaningful contact between immigrants and non-immigrants significantly reduces perceptions that intergroup relations are conflictual for both immigrants and non-immigrants. In addition, an increase in physical and social disorder increases conflict perceptions. These findings have important implications for place-based approaches to immigrant integration and policy measures that are aimed at enhancing social cohesion.



Keywords: Perception of Discrimination, Integration of Immigrants, Social Cohesion, Intergroup Relations, Minority-Majority Relations, Immigrants Integration Policy

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