In the eye of the beholder: national boundary perceptions and their identity implications across immigrant generations in multinational states

Abstract

ABSTRACT The concept of national boundaries has been employed extensively in the social sciences, with most research focusing on the host society's perspective. This study innovates by measuring immigrants’ perceptions of how boundaries of their host nation are drawn and examining how such perceptions impact their national identifications in a multinational context, more specifically in the province of Quebec in Canada. It relies on a stratified sample of first- (n = 1129) and second-generation immigrants (n = 1286) as well as non-immigrants (n = 1472). We show that boundary perceptions impact the availability and attractiveness of different identity options, including identification with Quebec, the country of origin, and Canada. First, while perceptions of ascriptive boundaries to Quebec push first- and second-generation immigrants away from Quebec identity, the reactive effect of strengthening identification with the country of origin and Canada is limited. Second, although the second generation perceives Quebec boundaries as more ascriptive than the first generation, it is not more strongly impacted by their boundary perceptions in their identifications. Third, perceptions of attainable boundaries promote all three national identifications, but only for the first generation. Finally, we demonstrate that attention to boundary perceptions adds important explanatory leverage beyond the impact that discrimination has on national identifications.