Group Threat Research Articles

Latino Tú Latino Yo: Group Threat and Group Consciousness in California

This paper examines the rise of group consciousness in California during the 1990s. Many scholars have studied the increase in political participation in California and have alluded to an increase in group consciousness, but studies have not captured whether or not this actually exists. In this paper, I use seven surveys conducted between 1989 and 2004 and leverage the timing of these surveys to examine the role of perceived discrimination on Latino group consciousness in California. I hypothesize that the impact of political threat motivated an increase in group consciousness, which is driven by Latinos who perceived the discriminatory nature of California’s proposition politics in the 1990s. I find support for the hypothesis that perceived discrimination is positively associated with group consciousness during this time. However, the relationship between perceived group discrimination and group consciousness weakens after the threatening time period, even though reported levels of group consciousness continued to increase. This finding suggests that group threat may activate group consciousness even after feelings of threat have subsided.

Community representation and policing: Effects on Black civilians

AbstractDoes increased representation of Black individuals in the police force lead to less aggressive policing of Black individuals? The current study uses a Chicago panel data set with monthly police unit observations between 2013 and 2015 to understand 1) how police units’ representation of Black individuals affects the number of stops of Black residents and 2) how individual police officers patrol differently depending on the racial/ethnic background of co‐working officers. Using fixed‐effects negative binomial regression, we found that increasing racial congruence between police officers and the community being patrolled was associated over time with fewer stops of Black residents. Individual analyses showed that Black (vs. White) officers stopped fewer Black civilians, with larger effects in police units with higher percentages of Black officers, indicating a unit group effect. Furthermore, as the number of Black officer co‐workers in a shift increased, Black civilian stops declined for all officers, including White officers, which is consistent with active representation. These findings indicate that a more diverse and representative police force can reduce aggressive policing of minority communities by mitigating group threat and cultivating positive cross‐racial exchanges within police organizations and smaller peer groups.

Enemy of My Enemy? An Examination of Potential Religious Group Threat Effects on Racial Attitudes

ABSTRACT Group threat theories postulate that when majority group members feel threatened by minority racial groups, they develop prejudice. However, it is possible that feeling threatened by those perceived as outgroups of racial minorities can lead to support for racial minorities. The threat offered by conservative Christians to progressives can lead those progressives to become more supportive of racial minorities, perceiving those minorities as allies. Data from the 2021 Baylor Religion Survey examined the predictive power of feeling threatened by Republicans, African Americans, conservative Christians, Muslims, atheists, and Buddhists on progressive racial attitudes. After basic social and demographic controls, feeling threatened by conservative Christians and political conservatives was associated with higher support for progressive racialized attitudes, while feeling threatened by Muslims and blacks was associated with lower support for progressive racial attitudes. This research extends theories about group threat theory by focusing on the symbolic threat tied to our current culture war.

The Boundaries of “Women of Color”: The Political Implications of Non-Hispanic Whites’ Perceptions of Women of Color

ABSTRACT Women candidates are increasingly referred to as “women of color.” But who the public sees as women of color is unclear. We ask how non-Hispanic whites, who are still the largest voting group, perceive which racial/ethnic groups of women are included in the “women of color” group. We find heterogeneity in who white Americans believe are “women of color” – differences that are connected to political support for women of color candidates. We analyze how these views about the boundaries around women of color are informed by political party affiliation, as different ideas about who constitutes the “women of color” group are related to stereotypes and perceptions of group threat.

Cross‐national governmental treatment toward atheists since 1816

AbstractAs the atheist population grows globally, understanding how governments treat the growing population is vital. Two theories, group threat theory (GTT) and world society theory (WST), offer differing predictions. GTT suggests increasing atheists may face unfavorable treatment because religious groups perceive them as a threat. Conversely, WST proposes that a more interconnected world culture advances secularism, which promotes positive treatment for atheists. This study explores the interplay between these theories and sheds light on how governments treat atheists across countries. Utilizing a comprehensive panel dataset spanning nearly 200 years, we investigate governmental treatment toward atheists, analyzing data from diverse countries and tracking changes over time. Our results reveal that as the proportion of atheists increases, their treatment by governments becomes more favorable, challenging the tenets of GTT. We also find that embeddedness in political or economic networks is related to more favorable treatment of atheists.

Why some states bring more laws to the gunfight

Firearm laws impact rates of injuries and crimes in U.S. states. Researchers, however, seldom examine the factors that influence state-level enactment of restrictive firearm law provisions (FLPs) over time. This study builds on economic threat and group threat scholarship, explaining variation in the number of restrictive FLPs in effect across U.S. states from 1992 to 2019. Analyzing annual state-level panel data using longitudinal negative binomial regression, results indicate that economic threat, group threat, political partisanship, and region are particularly relevant to explaining this phenomenon. I situate this study in the sociological discourse on state-level firearm legislation and provide suggestions for future research.

Bias in prosecutorial decision making: Bridging focal concerns & group threat

PurposeTwo dominant theoretical approaches used to explain racial and ethnic disparities in criminal justice outcomes are focal concerns and group threat. This study tests hypotheses about disparities in prosecutors' indictment decisions drawn from these theories, as well as the liberation hypothesis. MethodsPropensity score matching is used to examine charging disparities between Arabs and Jews suspected of different property crimes in the Jerusalem district court from 2007 to 2018. ResultsHypotheses drawn from each of these perspectives are not supported. The pattern of disparities across different crime types is consistent with an explanation that bridges insights from focal concerns and group threat perspectives. ConclusionsOur study emphasizes the importance of the broader social context of the offense in understanding the threat perceptions tied to specific crimes and explaining ethnic gaps in prosecutorial decision making.

In the Name of “Freedom” and “Democracy”

This article examines the rise of the populist radical right in the Czech Republic, where this party family had no parliamentary representation for many years. We show that by clarifying its ideological profile, the SPD achieved results in accordance with the social marginality and welfare chauvinism hypothesis. This is also confirmed by a spatial analysis, which shows that success of the SPD relied especially on mobilizing voters in traditional strongholds of the Czech left. In contrast, the Czech case yielded only very small support for the group threat effect and only mixed results for a U-shaped effect of age.

외국인 밀집지역 내 내국인 거주민의 외국인에 대한 편견과 범죄두려움의 관계

As of 2023, Korea is living a life where various races coexist beyond a multicultural society due to rapid globalization that has progressed from the past. Nevertheless, the increasing number of crimes against foreigners is increasing the fear of crimes among Koreans. In particular, foreign crimes have led to prejudice against foreigners, and this prejudice causes foreigners to be alienated from society and Koreans to not be able to live with foreigners. For this reason, social cohesion in areas where foreigners are concentrated decreases, and collective efficiency decreases. Collective efficiency is one of the main factors that explain crime fear, and when collective efficiency decreases, crime fear increases. Therefore, this study attempted to present an academic basis to establish a safe society by living with foreigners by identifying the relationship between crime fear, prejudice against foreigners, and collective efficiency of Koreans living in areas where foreigners are concentrated. Based on the group threat theory, the study tried to verify the mediating effect of collective efficiency in the relationship between prejudice against foreigners and fear of crime. Studies have shown that collective efficiency mediates the relationship between prejudice against foreigners and fear of crime. Based on the results, the conclusion suggested ways to reduce prejudice against foreigners by using a bias reduction strategy and to increase the collective efficiency of Koreans living in foreign-dense areas through joint foreign patrols.

Cultural Threat, Outgroup Discrimination, and Attitudes toward Transgender Rights

AbstractScholars often highlight the roles that group threat and intergroup solidarity play in shaping attitudes toward outgroups. Competition among social groups, including over values and culture, can underlie negative attitudes toward outgroups. Meanwhile, perceptions of discrimination against outgroups can drive feelings of solidarity, sympathy, or empathy, which may foster more positive attitudes. These social identity concepts are often studied in the context of racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice, with less attention to how they apply to attitudes toward transgender and gender diverse people. Using a 2022 national survey, we assess how respondents’ perceptions of cultural threat from the LGBTQ community and perceptions of discrimination among a range of outgroups are related to attitudes about transgender rights policies, including access to public restrooms, participation in school sports, and medical transition care. We find that cultural threat is consistently associated with support for policies that restrict the rights of transgender people, but perceived outgroup discrimination tends not to show a significant relationship with these attitudes.

Examining the Role of Social Capital and Socioeconomic Status on Anti-Foreigner Sentiment in South Korea

South Korean society is becoming incredibly and rapidly diverse through increasing inbound immigration. This has recently been highlighted due to low birth rate trends among South Koreans. While the number of foreigners is increasing in South Korea, there have been limited studies on the social integration of these foreigners as well as public attitudes towards them. In this study, we apply the group threat model and focus on how social capital and socioeconomic status are associated with anti-foreigner sentiments. Analyses of data from the 2022 citizen survey conducted in South Korea suggest that both factors are partially related to anti-foreigner sentiment at the structural and individual levels. Through this study, we contribute to the understanding of public attitudes towards foreigners and suggest careful approaches in social integration policy design.

Threats to Blue Networks: The Effect of Partner Injuries on Police Misconduct

Police culture creates an “us versus them” dynamic, which, at its worst, treats threats to the “thin blue line” as worthy of group response. Prior research documents such a group threat process as a possible mechanism for police misconduct, but few studies have analyzed the precise network relationships that serve as the conduit for a misconduct response. Using data on misconduct, officer injuries, and officer networks within the Chicago Police Department (CPD) between 2004 and 2015, this study examines the extent to which injuries officers receive from civilians might elicit a misconduct response from officers’ peers, and especially their direct network associates. Findings demonstrate that network ties to injured officers predict higher levels of subsequent misconduct, especially for officers with stronger ties to the injured officer. Furthermore, the effects of peer injury on subsequent misconduct are contingent on the race of the suspect involved: officers whose peers are injured are linked to more use of excessive force, as well as other types of misconduct, when the suspects involved are Black. These findings support our central hypothesis of a networked group threat response that links peer injuries to police misconduct.

회귀나무 분석을 이용한 외국인비율, 집단위협인식, 집합효율성 관계에 관한 탐색적 연구

In order to empirically verify the integrative hypothesis of the Social Integration Model-Group Threat Theory, this paper examines the relationship between the proportion of foreigners in residential areas and Koreans' perception of group threat and collective efficiency. This analysis is conducted at the exploratory level using regression tree analysis. The case of 800 Korean residents was utilized as secondary data in the “Research on Measures for Strengthening the Efficacy of Criminal Policy for Guaranteeing Public Safety (IV): A Study on the Safety Condition and Policy Issues in Foreign Population Concentrated Areas” conducted by the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice. As a result of the main analysis, it was found that the integrated hypothesis of the Social Integration Model-Group Threat Theory, which has been discussed in Western society, was partially supported. However, the factor of perceived group threat had a significant effect only in multi-ethnic communities with more than 50% of foreigners in predicting collective efficiency. Through the derived results, the study suggests the necessity of implementing a control policy to mitigate the spread of anti-multicultural emotions resulting from the increasing ethnic diversity. Finally, the study also presents its limitations.

Group Threat and Social Control: Who, What, Where, and When

Group threat theory has stimulated an impressive number of studies over the course of the past several decades. Our review takes stock of this literature, focusing on core issues of concern to the criminological community. We begin by documenting the theoretical origins of group threat theory and discussing the early research informed by the theory. We then highlight the ways in which criminologists have built on and extended the early research by expanding the theory's scope, clarifying mechanisms, and addressing methodological issues. In our concluding remarks, we direct attention to the more consequential limitations of the work to date and offer suggestions about areas for fruitful growth in the future.

Intergroup contact is reliably associated with reduced prejudice, even in the face of group threat and discrimination.

Intergroup contact provides a reliable means of reducing prejudice. Yet, critics suggested that its efficacy is undermined, even eliminated, under certain conditions. Specifically, contact may be ineffective in the face of threat, especially to (historically) advantaged groups, and discrimination, experienced especially by (historically) disadvantaged groups. We considered perceived intergroup threat and perceived discrimination as potential moderators of the effect of contact on prejudice. Two meta-analyses of correlational data from 34 studies (totaling 63,945 respondents-drawn from 67 subsamples across 19 countries) showed that contact was associated with decreased prejudice and increased out-group positivity, in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, among advantaged and disadvantaged group members, and in both Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) and non-WEIRD contexts. Both perceived threat and perceived discrimination moderated the contact-attitude association, but in an unanticipated direction. Indeed, contact's beneficial effects were at least as strong among individuals high (r = .19) as among individuals low (r = .18) in perceived threat. Similarly, the effects of contact were at least as strong among those high (r = .23) as among those low (r = .20) in perceived discrimination. We conclude that contact is effective for promoting tolerant societies because it is effective even among subpopulations where achieving that goal might be most challenging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Real-World Developments Predict Immigration News in Right-Wing Media: Evidence from Germany

ABSTRACT Exclusionist positions on immigration have become a key component of right-wing ideology in most countries around the world. Combining group threat and news values theory, this study sheds light on the emergence of right-wing discourses on immigration based on one of Germany’s most influential right-wing print outlets. I employ supervised and unsupervised machine-learning methods on almost 54,000 articles published between 1998 and 2019 to test whether real-world conditions shape immigration news. Results show that reporting on immigration generally increased over time and peaked during the refugee inflow in 2015/16. Immigration numbers, foreigner crime rates, and Jihadist terror attacks predict the salience of the immigration issue in the overall news as well as discursive shifts within immigration news. During times of high immigration, articles were more likely to address topics related to deportation and closing borders or the criminalization of immigration. Terrorism was more present in immigration news after attacks, especially after attacks in Germany. Foreigner crime did not significantly increase reporting on crime in immigration news. In short, right-wing immigration discourses seem responsive to real-world developments and events that enable exclusionary rhetoric and a threatening portrayal of immigrants.

Generosity during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of collective narcissism

This study analyzes how a novel psychological factor—collective narcissism—affects giving behavior to national and international charities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that collective narcissists tended to keep more resources for themselves or national charities while giving less to international charities. In line with the group threat theory, this tendency is more pronounced in countries with a high share of foreign population. Our findings suggest that the shared experience of the global COVID-19 public health crisis did not blur the boundaries between ingroups and outgroups for collective narcissists. These results imply that mitigating outgroup hostility associated with collective narcissism is critical to strengthening cross-national solidarity during unprecedented crises. However, more contact with foreign nationals might not reduce the negative impact of collective narcissism.

Perceived threat, injustice appraisal and willingness to join progressive collective action

AbstractCollective actions are the activities which are aimed at improving social group’s conditions. Presented studies were conducted to examine if perceived threat is connected to the tendency to engage in collective actions, and if this relation is mediated by injustice appraisal and stronger identification with in-group. Four studies were conducted in two social contexts of collective action: newly formed woman’s rights movement with a focus on opposing abortion ban in Poland, and progressive movements advocating equality of marriage for LGBT community. Both topics are strongly present in Polish social debate in recent years. Results show a significant link between perceived group threat and the tendency to participate in group action. This relationship is mediated by injustice appraisal and group identification–the more members of in-group and their allies perceived out-group as threatening, the stronger feeling of unjust treatment and identification with the discriminated groups. In turn identification is connected to the motivation to act collectively.

Segregation and Group Threat: Specifying Hispanic-White Punishment Disparity

Abstract Evidence of racial disparity in punishment has been pervasive in the U.S. criminal justice system. Furthermore, a growing body of literature suggests that racial and ethnic disparities in criminal punishment, typically motivated by group threat perspectives, vary in relation to social and contextual conditions of court jurisdictions. One important factor relevant to minority threat and intergroup contact is segregation, yet research on social contexts and criminal sentencing has largely ignored this feature of local social structure. However, segregation might condition the effects of minority population size on dominant group threat responses in social control. Focusing on Hispanic-White segregation, we assess competing hypotheses regarding segregation’s role in conditioning Hispanic-White punishment disadvantage. Pennsylvania, which has recently undergone significant population change related to these processes, presents a unique and valuable context for study. Analyses of statewide sentencing data from 2013–2017 along with Census and American Community Survey data, reveal that Hispanic-White residential segregation seems to foster greater Hispanic punishment disadvantage. Moreover, segregation specifies the association between local Hispanic population size and Hispanic-White incarceration disparity. In counties with both greater than average Hispanic population share and greater segregation, Hispanic defendants faced even greater incarceration disparities.

The Noncitizen Penalty in U.S. Federal Courts: Differences in Punishment by Region of Citizenship

Previous literature has found that noncitizens are punished in U.S. federal courts more severely than U.S. citizens for offenses that are legally equivalent, though less is known about variation in the noncitizen effect depending on the defendant’s nation of citizenship. Using United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) federal courts data from 2018 to 2020, we analyze group differences in the noncitizen penalty across regions of national origin. We draw from literature on group threat and the focal concerns perspective to guide our expectations. We find that noncitizens from all regions except Asia and North/West Europe have higher odds of being incarcerated compared with U.S. citizens, and noncitizens from Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Africa receive longer sentence lengths than U.S. citizens. Implications concerning the theoretical mechanisms relevant to the noncitizen penalty are discussed.