Compatibility of ethnic and national identifications under multicultural policies
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| Author | Akira Igarashi |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13067 |
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
Correspondence
Akira Igarashi, Osaka University, 1-2
yamadaoka Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Email: akiraigarashi515@gmail.com
Abstract
Immigrants' national and ethnic identifications have been
assumed to contradict each other. However, while studies
in psychology generally support this association, under the
condition in which national identifications are conceptual-
ized as inclusive, ethnic identifications do not necessarily
contradict national identifications. I hypothesize that in
a country where tolerant multicultural policies are intro-
duced, immigrants' ethnic and national identifications may
be compatible. To test this hypothesis, data collected from
respondents with an immigrant background in the European
Social Survey 2014 were analysed with multilevel modelling.
The results support the hypothesis: in a country with toler-
ant multicultural policies, ethnic and national identifications
are positively associated, while in a country with strict poli-
cies, the identifications are negatively associated. This study
indicates that the association between ethnic and national
identifications is not always negative, but this is dependent
on context.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Compatibility of ethnic and national identifications
under multicultural policies
Akira Igarashi
DOI: 10.1111/imig.13067
Received: 7 September 2021 Revised: 28 August 2022 Accepted: 28 August 2022
INTRODUCTION
With the increasing rate of immigration, European countries have introduced multicultural policies that aim to
encourage “public recognition and support for minorities to express their distinct identities and practices” (Banting
et al., 2006, p. 1). However, researchers and politicians in Western Europe have expressed their concerns about the
possible negative consequences of these policies (e.g. Barry, 2001; Huntington, 2004; Koopmans, 2013). Accord-
ing to the argument of anti-multiculturalists, one of the adverse outcomes of multicultural policies is immigrants'
lowered level of identification with their residential country. If their arguments are valid, multicultural policies may
cause substantial difficulties as national identification is one of the main indicators of immigrants' assimilation and
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© 2022 International Organization for Migration.
International Migration. 2023;61:373–389. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
integration into their host society (de Vroome et al., 2014; Gordon, 1964). Furthermore, national identification is
indispensable for maintaining a democratic regime (Miller, 1995), perpetuating the system of tax redistribution
(Kymlicka, 2015) as well as reducing segregation of immigrants (Wright, 2011).
These anti-multiculturalists' arguments are based on the assumption that ethnic and national identifications
are mutually exclusive (Nandi & Platt, 2015). They contend that under multicultural policies immigrants' ethnic
identification increases, resulting in a lowering of national identification with their host society (e.g. Barry, 2001;
Cameron, 2011; Huntington, 2004). 1 According to previous psychological studies, this assumption of incompati-
bility between identifications is not unrealistic as it has previously been found that immigrants with high ethnic
identification are less likely to identify with their residential country (e.g. Hochman & Davidov, 2014; Martinovic
et al., 2011; Rumbaut, 1994; Schulz & Leszczensky, 2016; Verkuyten & Yildiz, 2007). However, the identification
strategies depend on the political context of the residential society (Bello, 2016; Turner et al., 1987), and the patterns
of association between ethnic and national identifications are determined by public policies. Nevertheless, the rela-
tionship between distinctive identifications and macro-level factors have not yet been investigated, let alone the
effect of multicultural policies. For the anti-multiculturalists' assumptions to be valid, the association between ethnic
and national identifications must be tested within the context of multicultural policies.
This study examines whether multicultural policies moderate the association between ethnic and national iden-
tifications. First, I summarize previous studies on the relationship between ethnic and national identifications and the
environment that modifies the association between these identifications. Based on data collected in the European
Social Survey (ESS) Round 7, I conduct a multilevel analysis of 20 European countries. I operationalize multicultural
policies with a new measurement based on the Multicultural Policy (MCP) Index and the Migrant Integration Policy
Index (MIPEX). The results show that in a country with lower level of multicultural policies, ethnic and national iden-
tifications are strongly contradictory, while in a country with tolerant multicultural policies, immigrants' ethnic and
national identifications are compatible.
National and ethnic identifications
Identifications are personal attachments or a sense of belonging to a social group. Immigrants have both national
and ethnic identifications: a sense of belonging to their host society and to their own ethnic group respectively 2 (e.g.
Verkuyten, 2018). Initially, these associations were thought to be unidimensional; Gordon (1964) assumed that immi-
grants' identification to their host society naturally leads to disidentification from their own ethnic group. Since the
introduction of Berry's acculturation model these identifications have been understood as conceptually and substan-
tially distinct (e.g. Berry, 1997). However, despite the conceptual differences between national and ethnic identi-
fications, how these two concepts are associated, whether positive or negative, is an empirical question. Various
studies have indicated that ethnic and national identifications have an inverse relationship; an increase in one iden-
tification decreases the other (Abu-Rayya & Abu-Rayya, 2009; Hochman & Davidov, 2014; Martinovic et al., 2011;
Rumbaut, 1994; Schulz & Leszczensky, 2016; Verkuyten, 2018; Verkuyten & Yildiz, 2007). In addition, some stud-
ies reported that ethnic identification is the strongest negative predictor of national identification (Hochman &
Davidov, 2014). Citing Billig (1995), Chryssochoou and Lyons (2010) argued that this incompatibility between ethnic
and national identifications is due to the “fact” that we live in a world of nations, in which national groups have
discrete, natural, stable and exclusive boundaries based on their shared origins.
However, other scholars argued that ethnic and national identifications are not always in conflict and that immi-
grants can establish a distinctive, but not necessarily conflicting combination of the two types of identifications.
These non-conflicting types of identifications are referred to as superordinate identity (Wenzel et al., 2008), bicul-
turalism (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002; Chen et al., 2008; Schwartz & Zamboanga, 2008) and common group iden-
tity (Dovidio et al., 2008; Gaertner et al., 1989). Although these frameworks have assumed different relationships
and compositions between identifications, 3 they agree that when the contents, or shared image and meaning, of
IGARASHI
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