Do anti-immigrant sentiments track into Danish classrooms? Ethnicity, ethnicity salience, and bias in children's peer preferences

Abstract

Denmark's commitment to childhood characterized by equality, democracy, and social cooperation stands in stark contrast to public discourse about immigrant children, who are sometimes branded with negative stereotypes and cast as the cause of school problems. This study examined ethnic-group membership, ethnicity salience, and peer preferences of 399 children in 21 classrooms in two Danish cities to explore whether anti-immigrant sentiments tracked into classrooms, socially marginalizing minority children, and whether any such disadvantages derived from ethnicity salience, in-group favouritism and/or out-group bias. Researchers introduced an index to control for class differences in the relative number of ethnic minority and majority children and analyzed both child as chooser and child as chosen dynamics. They found that minority/majority status was associated with in-group preference, social preference, and social status, disadvantaging minority children, especially in the smaller city. Salience was associated with minority status only. In-group preference did not correlate with out-group bias. Findings revealed potential risks and protective factors for minority children. Evidence contradicted stereotypic characterizations of minority children.