Abstract
Comparing levels of discrimination across countries can provide a window into large-scale social and political factors often described as the root of discrimination. Because of difficulties in measurement, however, little is established about variation in hiring discrimination across countries. We address this gap through a formal meta-analysis of 97 field experiments of discrimination incorporating more than 200,000 job applications in nine countries in Europe and North America. We find significant discrimination against nonwhite natives in all countries in our analysis; discrimination against white immigrants is present but low. However, discrimination rates vary strongly by country: In high-discrimination countries, white natives receive nearly twice the callbacks of nonwhites; in low-discrimination countries, white natives receive about 25 percent more. France has the highest discrimination rates, followed by Sweden. We find smaller differences among Great Britain, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, the United States, and Germany. These findings challenge several conventional macro-level theories of discrimination.
Highlights
As a framework for this cross-national research, we begin by considering why theories can be taken to support either relative similarity in levels of discrimination among countries in Western Europe and North America or, alternatively, support significant national differences in discrimination patterns
Using the method of meta-regression, with a database including all available field experimental studies of racial and ethnic discrimination in hiring, we model the relative rate of discrimination against minority groups as a function of the country, the minority group, and other study characteristics
Working from the initial set of studies located through bibliographic search, we examined the bibliographies of all review articles and eligible audit studies to find additional field experiments of hiring discrimination
Summary
As a framework for this cross-national research, we begin by considering why theories can be taken to support either relative similarity in levels of discrimination among countries in Western Europe and North America or, alternatively, support significant national differences in discrimination patterns. Important differences along these dimensions exist as well, and in the absence of strong theory about the causes of discrimination, it is plausible that discrimination could be either fairly uniform or quite different across countries. Modern racial divisions and prejudice have their historical basis in the ideologies developed as part of early group contact, especially justifications of the international slave trade and colonialism (Fredrickson 2002). The result was a set of beliefs, ideas, and prejudices about the inferiority of nonwhite racial groups that were often quite similar across Western countries (Winant 2001)
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