Irish Attitudes to Muslim Immigrants - Economic and Social Research ...

The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 50, No. 3, Autumn 2019, pp. 491-514

Irish Attitudes to Muslim Immigrants

?amonn Fahey

Economic and Social Research Institute

Frances McGinnity*

Economic and Social Research Institute and Trinity College Dublin

Raffaele Grotti

European University Institute, Florence

Abstract: This paper uses data from the 2014 Special Module of the European Social Survey on attitudes

to immigration to investigate attitudes towards Muslim and White immigrants in Ireland. Drawing on

theories of social identity, ethnic threat and social distance, the paper develops hypotheses about which

factors influence attitudes to Muslim immigrants, and how and why they might differ from attitudes to

White immigrants. Comparing these attitudes, we find evidence of an ¡°ethnic hierarchy¡± in Ireland, with

more positive attitudes to White than to Muslim immigrants. We also find that age and religious practice

are associated with attitudes towards Muslim immigrants, but have only weak effects on attitudes towards

White immigrants. The analysis reveals that an international terrorist attack had a negative effect on

attitudes to Muslim immigrants but not on attitudes to White immigrants.

Acknowledgements: This paper is based on work done on attitudes to diversity as part of the research

programme on human rights and equality, funded by a grant from the Irish Human Rights and Equality

Commission. An earlier version was presented at an ESRI lunchtime seminar and to contributors to the

ECSR 2018 conference in Paris, and the authors would like to acknowledge constructive comments from

participants at both. The paper was enhanced by the journal referee process. The authors would also like

to acknowledge the contribution of their ESRI colleague Helen Russell. The authors are solely responsible

for the content and the views expressed.

* Corresponding author: fran.mcginnity@esri.ie

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I INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION

his paper builds on previous work in Ireland on attitudes to immigrants by

considering Irish attitudes towards Muslim immigrants, a small but growing

religious community. The motivation behind it is two-fold. First, previous research

has shown that the attitudes of host country nationals are important for social

cohesion in general, and for minority group integration in particular. This is

particularly relevant to Muslims, as there has been considerable public debate in

recent years on the perceived difficulty of integrating Islamic communities into

European societies. In fact, some argue that this is one of the major concerns

fuelling an international backlash against multiculturalism (Helbling, 2012).

Second, there has been remarkably little quantitative research on Muslim

immigrants in Ireland of any kind, let alone on the attitudes of the host population

towards them. However, qualitative research suggests that Muslim immigrants

experience discrimination and racism in multiple arenas of daily life (Carr, 2016).

Ireland is unusual in a European context because Islam is largely absent from

national political discourse, making it an interesting setting for a study of this kind.

Because of data limitations, we generally do not make causal claims. Instead, we

seek to measure and contextualise attitudes to Muslim immigrants, and to uncover

the factors associated with these attitudes. The analysis should therefore be viewed

as an early step in a research agenda on religious diversity in Ireland.

Muslims have a relatively advantaged socio-economic profile in Ireland

(McGinnity et al., 2018a). In line with the substantial diversification of the Irish

population since the start of the 21st Century, the number of Muslims has increased

from under 20,000 in 2002 to over 60,000 in 2016 (see Figure 1). Muslims now

comprise 1.3 per cent of the population, and are disproportionately young, urban,

professional and highly educated. Just under one-in-three Muslims were born in

Ireland and around half report Irish nationality, reflecting an increasing trend

towards naturalisation among non-EEA migrants in Ireland (McGinnity et al.,

2018a). Indeed, Ireland¡¯s restrictive policy regarding the issuance of work permits

to immigrants from outside the EEA has meant that immigration from mostly

Muslim countries has been highly selective. Of course, not all immigrants come to

Ireland to work. Some Muslims come to seek international protection, many others

come on student visas to study in Ireland (McGinnity et al., 2018a). In fact Ireland¡¯s

Muslim population is extremely diverse. Muslims living in Ireland originate from

several regions of the world, identify with various cultural and religious traditions,

speak numerous languages and belong to different socio-economic classes

(Fanning, 2018).

Ireland is also unusual in a European context because there is no prominent

national debate on Islam. This might be partly due to the size of the Muslim

population, but immigration and diversity in general are not highly politicised.

In comparison to European countries such as the Netherlands, Austria and France,

T

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Irish Attitudes to Muslim Immigrants

Figure 1: Muslim Population in Ireland, Census 2002-2016

70,000

60,000

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

2002

2006

2011

2016

Source: Census of Population, Ireland, 2002-2016.

where right wing parties achieve significant electoral success campaigning on an

anti-Islamist platform, Islam is not politically charged in Ireland and there has not

been a successful anti-immigration far-right party (O¡¯Malley, 2008).

A central question for researchers interested in attitudes towards Muslims is

whether they are positive or negative, given the small and relatively affluent nature

of the Muslim community in Ireland, and the absence of a national debate on Islam.

Much research on attitudes to immigrants is comparative. The strength of this paper

is that it considers the national context in depth to interpret the attitudinal findings

(Ceobanu and Escandell, 2010).

In light of these considerations, we address three research questions. First we

examine how attitudes among Irish born survey respondents towards Muslims

compare to attitudes towards immigrants of the same race or ethnic group as most

Irish people.1 We acknowledge that Muslims are a religious rather than an ethnic

group. Ideally, we would compare attitudes to Muslim immigrants to attitudes to

Christian immigrants, but no such question is available in the European Social

Survey (ESS). That said, there is substantial overlap between religion and ethnicity

among immigrants to Ireland. According to the 2016 Census, less than 18 per cent

of Muslims recorded White ethnicity (McGinnity et al., 2018a). Most White

immigration to Ireland in recent years has come from predominantly Christian

1

Throughout this paper, we refer to this group as ¡°White immigrants¡±.

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countries such as Poland and Lithuania. Second, we consider whether individual

factors such as the educational attainment and religious practice of the survey

respondent play a different role in shaping attitudes to Muslim immigrants than

they do in influencing attitudes to immigrants of the majority ethnic group. Finally,

we investigate whether the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack of January 2015 had more

of an impact on attitudes to Muslim immigration than on attitudes to White

immigration.

To address these questions, we use data from the 2014 wave of the ESS, a high

quality, academically driven survey of a random sample of adults in multiple

European countries. We are limited to data from this wave of the survey because

questions on attitudes to Muslim immigrants are based on questions fielded as part

of a special module on attitudes to immigrants and immigration.

II THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES AND EXPECTATIONS

This paper draws on several theories which attempt to explain or predict variation

in attitudes to minorities and in particular to Muslims. Most research in the area

draws on social identity theory ¨C the idea that people construct ¡®in-groups¡¯ and ¡®outgroups¡¯, and perceive positive qualities of the former and negative characteristics

of the latter (Hewstone et al., 2002). A group of individuals who are perceived as

more different from the in-group are especially likely to be targets of prejudice

(Quillian, 1995). An extension of social identity theory ¨C group threat theory ¨C

argues that the in-group perceive the out-group to be a threat to their jobs, welfare

or even personal security (Quillian, 1995). Two types of threat are usually

distinguished. One is primarily material or realistic, referring to any threat to the

economic, political or physical well-being of the ¡®in-group¡¯ for example to their

jobs, financial resources or housing. The second is more symbolic, that is the

perception that immigrants have differing belief systems and moral values that pose

a threat to the values and symbols of the majority group, regarding for example the

role of women in society or religious values. Threat can be real or imagined but

both may affect attitudes (Ceobanu and Escandell, 2010). In relation to Islam, the

main perceived material or realistic threats may relate to security and terrorism

(Cesari, 2009), and perceived symbolic threats could include threats to gender

equality, secularism, liberty and democracy (Sauer, 2009; Betz, 2013).

2.1 Ethnic Hierarchies

Throughout the analysis in this paper, we compare attitudes towards Muslim

immigrants to attitudes towards White immigrants. There are several reasons for

us to believe that attitudes to the two groups may differ. Ireland¡¯s predominantly

White population may be particularly opposed to immigration of co-ethnics, due

to a mechanism known as ¡°horizontal hostility¡±, which refers to groups¡¯ tendency

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495

to act to differentiate themselves from similar groups to maintain their social

identities (White and Langer, 1999; Brown, 2000).2

More likely, however, is that Irish people will favour White immigrants over

Muslim immigrants. Brown (2000; pp. 757-758) reviews a number of studies which

show that groups which perceive themselves as similar in terms of both norms and

status tend to ¡°show more intergroup attraction and less bias then [sic] dissimilar

groups¡±. This view is supported by research which demonstrates that multi-ethnic

societies often form ¡°ethnic hierarchies¡± which are implicit rankings of ethnic

groups. There tends to be widespread consensus among survey respondents on the

ordering of groups, and Muslims are often situated near the bottom of European

hierarchies. For instance, Snellman and Ekehammar¡¯s (2005) study of attitudes

towards immigrants in Sweden showed that immigrants from mostly-Muslim Syria,

Iran, and Somalia were ranked lowest in terms of attitudes, followed by Latin

American, and finally Italian immigrants. In the Netherlands, Verkuyten and Kinket

(2000) report that a number of studies have found European immigrants to be the

public¡¯s ¡°favourite¡± immigrant group, followed by Jewish immigrants, Southern

Europeans, nationals of former Dutch colonies, and finally immigrants from mostlyMuslim countries. Bleich¡¯s (2009) review of data in France and the UK concludes

that although Muslims are not at the bottom of the ethno-racial hierarchy, they are

viewed negatively. For example a 2005 national survey in Britain revealed that

19 per cent of the population held negative views about Muslims, compared to 10

per cent holding negative views about Black people, and 38 per cent expressing

negativity towards asylum seekers (Bleich, 2009).

Of most relevance for this paper, Mac Gr¨¦il¡¯s 2007-2008 National Survey of

Attitudes in Ireland measured social distance to 51 social, political, ethnic and

religious groupings. He used the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, which is an index

derived from a series of questions about the minority groups. Among other things,

respondents were asked whether they would marry or accept as a close family

member an individual from a certain group, whether they would share a workplace

with them, and whether they would deport or debar them from Ireland (Mac Gr¨¦il,

2011). He found that Muslims had the second highest scores on social distance,

ranked fiftieth out of 51 groups. This means that they were among the least preferred

of all groups, with only drug addicts receiving a higher score. White immigrants,

by contrast, were viewed quite favourably. Minorities labelled as Welsh, English,

Canadian, Scottish, French, British, Dutch and German were all in the top 20, and

Polish people were ranked twenty-third. Overall, therefore, the existing literature

leads us to the hypothesis that attitudes to Muslim immigrants will be more negative

than attitudes to White immigrants in Ireland (Hypothesis 1).

2 For instance, White and Langer (1999) find evidence of ¡°horizontal hostility¡± between members of very

similar groups, i.e. between members of different types of Jewish congregations, and between different

classes of varsity soccer players.

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