Understanding ethnic prejudice in Canada: insights into status anxiety and middle-class nation-building through immigration

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper uses the concept of ethnic prejudice to examine the extent to which fears and anxieties related to immigration and ethnic diversity constitute obstacles to middle-class nation-building in Canada. Our underlying assumption is that if immigration is so contentious and the status anxiety it induces so great, then it should manifest into substantial levels of ethnic prejudice. Moreover, if status anxiety induced by immigration is indeed a widespread concern in Canada, we expect it to translate to significant differences in ethnic prejudice between class and immigration status. To measure ethnic prejudice, we developed an index using common factor analysis with the Provincial Diversity Project. This dataset allows us to create a robust index of ethnic prejudice based on the individual attitudes regarding eight different ethnic groups. While our findings indicate that ethnic prejudice in Canada remains relatively low for the time being, it is evident that a certain level of ethnic prejudice persists and intersects with other forms of status anxieties and competition.