Majority Member’s Recognition and Protest Against Discrimination of Immigrants: The Role of Power Threat, Deprovincialization and Common National Identity

Abstract

Following the social identity perspective and using data from two national surveys, the present research examines among the native Dutch their recognition of discrimination against immigrants (Study 1) and their intention to protest against this (Study 2). It was found that stronger endorsement of a common national identity was associated with higher recognition and stronger protest intention. However, higher perceived power threat was associated with lower common identity endorsement and thereby to lower recognition of discrimination and reduced willingness to protest. At the same time, a less in-group centric perspective (deprovincialization) was associated with higher recognition of discrimination and willingness to protest because of a stronger endorsement of common identity. The similar results in the two studies support the generality of the proposed processes and add to the limited research on when and why majority members recognize and act against group-based injustices.