Islamophobia in the West: Measuring and Explaining Individual Attitudes

by Marc Helbling (Editor)

Overview

Since the late 1980s, growing migration from countries with a Muslim cultural background, and increasing Islamic fundamentalism related to terrorist attacks in Western Europe and the US, have created a new research field investigating the way states and ordinary citizens react to these new phenomena. However, whilst we already know much about how Islam finds its place in Western Europe and North America, and how states react to Muslim migration, we know surprisingly little about the attitudes of ordinary citizens towards Muslim migrants and Islam. Islamophobia has only recently started to be addressed by social scientists.

With contributions by leading researchers from many countries in Western Europe and North America, this book brings a new, transatlantic perspective to this growing field and establishes an important basis for further research in the area. It addresses several essential questions about Islamophobia, including:

 
• what exactly is Islamophobia and how can we measure it?
 
• how is it related to similar social phenomena, such as xenophobia?
 
• how widespread are Islamophobic attitudes, and how can they be explained?
 
• how are Muslims different from other outgroups and what role does terrorism and 9/11 play?
 

Islamophobia in the West will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, religious studies, social psychology, political science, ethnology, and legal science.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138020023
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/18/2014
Series:	Routledge Advances in Sociology , #60
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Marc Helbling is Head of the research group 'Immigration Policies in Comparison' (IMPIC) at the Social Science Research Centre Berlin (WZB), Germany. His recent publications include Restructuring Political Conflict in Western Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2011, with Hanspeter Kriesi, Edgar Grande et al.) and Practising Citizenship and Heterogeneous Nationhood: Naturalisations in Swiss Municipalities (Amsterdam University Press, 2008). He has also published articles in journals such as the European Journal of Political Research, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Table of Contents

1. Islamophobia in the West: An Introduction Part 1: How to Measure Islamophobia 2. Prejudice Against Muslims: Associations with Personality Traits and Political Attitudes Part 2: The Scope of Islamophobia: Public Debates, Attitudes and Reactions 3. Assessing Islamophobia in Britain: Where Do Muslims Really Stand? 4. Attitudes toward Muslims in Norway 5. Islamophobia in Sweden: Politics, Representations, Attitudes and Experiences 6. Islamophobia in Spain? Political Rhetoric Rather Than a Social Fact Part 3: How To Explain Islamophobia 7. An Ecological Analysis of the 2009 Swiss Referendum on the Building of Minarets 8. Islamophobia and Its Explanation 9. The Aftermath of 9/11: Tolerance towards Muslims, Islamophobia and Value Orientations 10. Political Tolerance for Muslim Practices: An Intergroup Perspective 11. Revisiting Islamophobia in Contemporary Britain, 2007–10 Part 4: Are Muslims Different From Other Outgroups? Ethnocentrism and Terrorism 12. Islamophobia and the Band of Others 13. Think 'Terrorist', Think 'Muslim'? Social-Psychological Mechanisms Explaining Anti-Islamic Prejudice