Abstract
This article examines the relationship between (sub)national identity and attitudes towards immigrants in the multinational context of Belgium. We extend our previous studies by analysing a longer time period (1995–2020) and by making a strong case for the idea that measurement invariance testing and theoretical meaningfulness are closely intertwined. To examine whether and how the relationship between (sub)national identity and perceived ethnic threat has changed over time and between regions, we first test for metric invariance of the latent concepts. Using data from the Belgian National Election Studies, we illustrate that evaluating invariance of measurements is a necessary condition for comparative research, but also that measurement equivalence testing should be considered as an empirical guide showing researchers where substantial conclusions should potentially be revisited and theoretical validity rethought. Next, we verify whether the relationship between (sub)national identity and perceptions of ethnic threat across subnational units can be attributed to different conceptions of community membership -in terms of ethnic and/or civic citizenship conceptions- in Flanders and Wallonia. While we expected that a strong identification with Flanders would primarily be related to an ethnic citizenship representation, and as a result, stronger feelings of threat towards immigrants; we expected that a strong identification with Wallonia would primarily be related to a civic representation of the nation and therefore lower feelings of threat. Thanks to our thorough invariance testing strategy, the conceptualisation and measurement of (sub)national identity had to be adjusted in Wallonia, and the hypotheses had to be qualified.
Highlights
The occasion of this study is the debate concerning the relationship betweennational identity and perceptions of ethnic threat
We examine to what extent any of such changes could be related to fluctuations in the political party system and the electoral landscape in Belgium
When we consider the relationships in the Walloon model with the two sub-factors ofnational identity (“Territorial identity” TERR_ID and “Support for state reform” STA_RE) (Figure 2B and Table 2), we find that the relationship between territorial identity and ethnic threat is not different from zero, except in 2003 where it is weakly positive
Summary
The occasion of this study is the debate concerning the relationship between (sub)national identity and perceptions of ethnic threat. Ethnic citizenship emphasizes the community of birth and some supposed shared ancestral and cultural homogeneity It defines citizenship on the principle of descent, implying that ethnic status or ancestry determines who is accepted as a full member of the national community and who is not. Civic citizenship is usually interpreted as inclusion according to the principle of adherence to basic liberal values, in particular to legal norms and paying taxes It defines citizenship in more voluntaristic terms and refers to institutional commitment and participation in society (Pehrson et al, 2009b). These two types of citizenship, or social representations of the nation, could underlie different relationships between national identity and perceived ethnic threat (see Billiet et al, 2003)
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