Side Effects of Multiculturalism

TLDR

The study examined how right‑wing authoritarianism (RWA) influences the link between multicultural ideology and attitudes toward ethnic diversity and immigrants, hypothesizing that multiculturalism threatens authoritarian individuals, reducing positive diversity beliefs and increasing prejudice. Using representative survey data from 23 European countries and two experimental manipulations (a multicultural video and a multicultural group picture), the authors showed that RWA moderated the effect of multiculturalism on diversity attitudes, with stronger negative RWA–diversity belief links in more multicultural contexts and mediation by perceived threat. The results revealed that for individuals high in RWA, exposure to multicultural stimuli increased prejudice, and perceived threat mediated this effect.

Abstract

We studied the influence of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) on the relationship between a multicultural ideology and attitudes about ethnic diversity and immigrants. We hypothesized that a multicultural ideology poses a threat to authoritarian individuals, which leads to a decrease in positive diversity beliefs and an increase in prejudice toward immigrants. On the basis of representative survey-data from 23 European countries, we showed that the negative relationship between RWA and positive diversity beliefs was stronger the more a country engages in multiculturalism (Study 1). In addition, in two experiments we demonstrated that RWA moderated the relationship between a video promoting multiculturalism (Study 2) or a picture showing a multicultural group (Study 3) and attitudes toward immigrants and diversity. As expected, for high-RWAs, both stimuli led to an increase in prejudice. In Study 3, perceived threat mediated the relationship between a multicultural norm and prejudice for people high in RWA.