Abstract
Many immigrants experience discrimination. In this paper we consider how discrimination affects their trust. We make a theoretical case for a formal mediation approach to studying the immigration, discrimination, and trust relationship. This approach shifts attention to the basic fact that the overall levels of discrimination experienced by different immigrant and native-born groups are not the same. We also build on previous empirical research by considering multiple forms of discrimination, multiple types of trust and multiple immigrant/native-born groups. Drawing on the 2013 Canadian General Social Survey data (N = 27,695) we analyze differences in three kinds of trust (generalized trust, trust in specific others, and political trust), and the role of perceived discrimination (ethnic, racial, any), between five immigrant-native groups (Canadian-born whites, Canadian-born people of color, foreign-born whites, foreign-born people of color, and Indigenous people). We find that perceived discrimination is more relevant to general trust and trust in specific others than to political trust. We also find that perceived discrimination explains more of the trust gap between racialized immigrants and the native-born than the gap between non-racialized immigrants and the native-born. The results illustrate that what appears to be a simple relationship is far more complex when attempting to explain group differences.
Highlights
There are a few exceptions, many immigrants as well as other ethnic and/or minority group members tend to trust less in generalized others (Smith, 2010; Ziller, 2017)
Political trust levels are lowest for Indigenous respondents
Tensions with Muslims over the Burkini in France, support for the exit of the U.K. from the European Union, and even the recent debates about foreign home ownership in Canada clearly illustrate the challenges facing immigrant minorities in many countries. Underlying these challenges is a crisis of trust—a widening trust gap between immigrant and racialized minorities and majority populations in institutions and authorities
Summary
There are a few exceptions, many immigrants as well as other ethnic and/or minority group members tend to trust less in generalized others (Smith, 2010; Ziller, 2017). Nor is this surprising given the discrimination that minority group must often endure. In the case of particularized social trust in family, friends and relatives, immigrants tend to trust their own group members more than out-group members (Uslaner, 2017) When it comes to political trust, the relationship appears to be the opposite—immigrants tend to trust government more than the native-born or is at the very least mixed (Bilodeau and Nevitte, 2003)
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