Beyond appreciation and rejection: reactions of Europeans without a migration background to being an ethnic minority

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous research concerned with the reactions of ethnic majority members to becoming a minority has often portrayed these responses as being polarised. On the one side, there is a group which supports ethnic diversity, on the other side, a group which rejects ethnic diversity. But our data shows that the reactions to ethnic diversity are more nuanced. This research has developed an empirically grounded typology of reaction patterns to being an ethnic minority through a k-means cluster analysis. When operationalised as appreciation of ethnic diversity and inter-ethnic contact, five distinct reactions emerged in the sample: (i) segregated sceptics (low appreciation of diversity with little inter-ethnic contact), (ii) integrated enthusiasts (high appreciation of diversity with a lot of inter-ethnic contact), (iii) integrated sceptics (low appreciation of diversity with a lot of interethnic contact), (iv) moderates (moderate appreciation and moderate inter-ethnic contact) and (v) segregated enthusiasts (high appreciation of diversity with little inter-ethnic contact). This article further explains why some people without a migration background are more open towards embracing majority-minority developments than others by scrutinising the role of socio-economic status, previous exposure to diversity and feeling like a minority.