Population Size and Social Contact as Predictors of Religious Thought and Intergroup Attitudes: The Case of Muslims in Forty Countries

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of different percentages of Muslim population and their interactions with non-Muslims on their religious views and intergroup attitudes. By analyzing three different datasets of Pew Research Center, with an aggregation of more than 39,000 Muslims' responses from 40 different countries, this paper offers a counter-argument against the use of the previously mentioned approach. This will be presented by analyzing these datasets from three different levels of analyses. Unlike the present social contact literature in which the primary focus is on the host/majority population's nature of interaction with minorities and its effects on the former's intergroup attitudes, this research focuses on minorities' contact with majority members and its impact on their religious and intergroup views. Consequently, our findings indicate a more meaningful and factual understanding of Muslim minorities' religious views and intergroup attitudes emerges when their social experiences are taken into consideration.