Ethnicity and religiosity-based prejudice in Turkey: Evidence from a survey experiment

Published date01 January 2019
Date01 January 2019
DOI10.1177/0192512117696333
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512117696333
International Political Science Review
2019, Vol. 40(1) 58 –72
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512117696333
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Ethnicity and religiosity-based
prejudice in Turkey: Evidence
from a survey experiment
S. Erdem Aytaç
Koç University, Turkey
Ali Çarkoğlu
Koç University, Turkey
Abstract
Threat perceptions and prejudice underlie a large number of intergroup conflicts. In this article we explore
prejudicial attitudes in Turkey regarding ethnic Kurdish and devout Muslim religious identities as opposed
to Turkish and less observant, secular identities. Utilizing a population-based survey experiment, we use
vignettes about a hypothetical family as a neighbour, with randomized ethnicity and religiosity-related
cues. We find evidence for prejudice against Kurdish ethnicity, especially among older, lowly-educated and
economically dissatisfied individuals. The level of prejudice against Kurds does not seem to be related to the
relative size of the Kurdish population in the local population. We do not observe prejudice against devout
Muslim or less observant, secular identities. Our findings indicate that prejudice against Kurds in Turkey
does not have a sui generis nature. The lack of prejudice across the religiosity dimension suggests that major
socio-political cleavages do not necessarily affect intergroup attitudes.
Keywords
Prejudice, ethnicity, religiosity, survey experiment, Kurds, Turkey
Introduction
Prejudicial attitudes have far-reaching social and political consequences. Research has shown that
prejudice against out-groups, defined as ‘antipathy accompanied by a faulty generalization’
(Pettigrew, 1980: 821), underlie a large number of intergroup conflicts, affects individuals’ evalua-
tions of candidates to office, their levels of political participation, and attitudes towards various
Corresponding author:
S. Erdem Aytaç, Department of International Relations, Koç University, Rumelifeneri Yolu Sarıyer 34450 Istanbul,
Turkey.
Email: saytac@ku.edu.tr
696333IPS0010.1177/0192512117696333International Political Science ReviewAytaç and Çarkoğlu
research-article2017
Article

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