Multiculturalism and Muslim Accommodation: What Reaction Among the Mainstream?

Abstract

Multiculturalism and Muslim Accommodation: What Reaction Among the Mainstream? Matthew Wright American University mwright@american.edu Stuart Soroka University of Michigan ssoroka@umich.edu Jack Citrin University of California, Berkeley gojack@berkeley.edu Richard Johnston University of British Columbia richard.johnston@ubc.ca Abstract This paper assesses the apparent effect of political multiculturalism on tolerance of Muslim accommodation among native-born majority members. We do so by examining responses to a pair of survey experiments embedded in surveys conducted in Canada and the United States. Our unique contributions to the empirical literature on this topic are as follows: first, we move the focus away from general attitudes about immigration and diversity, and put it squarely on the most contentious issue: religion and religious accommodation; second, and beyond highlighting religion per se, we employ novel survey experiments to disentangle the issue of Muslim exceptionalism from other conflating factors including religious conservatism, socio-economic status, and race. In general, we find little in the way of policy effects, and substantially less tolerance of Muslim accommodation than for similar demands made by other religious groups. Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2570827