Minority Group Threat Research Articles

Hate as Backlash: A County-Level Analysis of White Supremacist Mobilization in Response to Racial and Gender “Threats”

AbstractGiven the resurgence and mainstreaming of the American far-right in recent years, there is an urgent need to better understand the etiology of recent white supremacist mobilization. In the current study, we investigate white supremacist mobilization primarily as a backlash against two threats perceived by white supremacists: racial threat and gender threat. This study extends the defended neighborhoods and feminist perspectives – frameworks previously used to explain hate and extremist violence – to explain legal white supremacist mobilization. Using data from the Anti-Defamation League, we utilize a series of negative binomial regressions analyzing white supremacist mobilization – as measured by propaganda incidents – at the county level between 2017 and 2020. Findings indicate that white supremacist mobilization is a backlash response to 1) the influx of nonwhite, Black, and Hispanic residents into white areas; 2) the presence of Jewish visibility as a measure of ethnoreligious minority group threat; and 3) gender equality in income, occupational status, and the labor force. Gender equality in education however does appear to have an ameliorative effect on white supremacist mobilization. On balance, the current study finds support for backlash explanations of white supremacist mobilization and demonstrates the utility of applying perspectives used to explain violence, including hate and extremist violence, to explain white supremacist mobilization.

From residence to movement: The nature of racial segregation in everyday urban mobility

While research on racial segregation in cities has grown rapidly over the last several decades, its foundation remains the analysis of the neighbourhoods where people reside. However, contact between racial groups depends not merely on where people live, but also on where they travel over the course of everyday activities. To capture this reality, we propose a new measure of racial segregation – the segregated mobility index (SMI) – that captures the extent to which neighbourhoods of given racial compositions are connected to other types of neighbourhoods in equal measure. Based on hundreds of millions of geotagged tweets sent by over 375,000 Twitter users in the 50 largest US cities, we show that the SMI captures a distinct element of racial segregation, one that is related to, but not solely a function of, residential segregation. A city’s racial composition also matters; minority group threat, especially in cities with large Black populations and a troubled legacy of racial conflict, appears to depress movement across neighbourhoods in ways that produce previously undocumented forms of racial segregation. Our index, which could be constructed using other data sources, expands the possibilities for studying dynamic forms of racial segregation including their effects and shifts over time.

Policing through subsidized firepower: An assessment of rational choice and minority threat explanations of police participation in the 1033 program*

Policing through subsidized firepower: An assessment of rational choice and minority threat explanations of police participation in the 1033 program*

Clarifying the Theoretical Tenets of the Symbolic Threat Perspective

Although Tittle and Curran in 1988 found support for the symbolic threat hypothesis, no further empirical investigations of the perspective have occurred to explain the contingencies of juvenile justice decision-making. We argue that past research has neglected this multilevel theory by only focusing on the “symbolic threat” thesis component, mischaracterizing the perspective as an inequality theory, or classifying the model as a derivative of Blalock’s minority group threat perspective. We contend that the original formulation of the symbolic threat hypothesis is a distinctive theory and offers a viable alternative to inequality and other racial/threat theoretical perspectives. The current study empirically tests the perspective in its entirety by examining the interrelationships between county-level characteristics (i.e. youth and minority populations), a juvenile’s race/ethnicity, and engaging in “moral offenses” with juvenile justice decision-making. The findings provide insight into the influence of contextual factors on the social control of youth of different racial/ethnic backgrounds.

“We All Have Stories”: Black Muslim Immigrants’ Experience With the Police

Understanding the relationships between immigrants and refugees and the police is a critical research task with implications for both community–police partnerships and the effectiveness of law enforcement efforts. This study contributes to such an understanding by examining perceptions of police and police interactions among Somali immigrants and refugees (both first and second generation) in three communities in the United States and Canada. This article presents in-depth analyses of qualitative interview data and draws upon multiple theoretical perspectives, specifically procedural justice and minority group threat theory. These perspectives have been employed to account for police–minority relationships in other works and we extend their application to a new group. We find that despite some evidence of positive interactions with police, current policing could do more to establish community trust and implement principles of procedural justice with Somalis in the United States and Canada. This article also finds support for the minority group threat theory in that study participants perceive that they experience harsher and more frequent policing due to their multiple marginalized statuses (Black, immigrant, and Muslim). Implications for both Somali immigrants/refugees and law enforcement are discussed.

Demographic Structure, Intersecting Identities, and Employment Inequalities

This study seeks to understand the role of demographic structure of the society as it pertains to the group size (i.e., number of group members) and individuals’ intersecting identities in shaping employment inequalities. Integrating homophily, intersectionality, and theory of minority group threat, we examine the likelihood of employment and level of employment income of individuals with varying immigrant and disability statuses. Our data consists of three Statistics Canada datasets: the 2001 and 2006 waves of the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) linked with the 2001 and 2006 Censuses, and the 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) linked with the 2011 National Household Survey 2011. We conduct our analysis by examining the following sub-groups: Canadian-born with no disabilities (CnD), immigrants with no disabilities (InD), Canadian-born with disabilities (CwD), and immigrants with disabilities (IwD). Consistent with the theory of minority group threat and intersectionality, we find that IwD benefit from being the smallest sub-group. Furthermore, the positive impact of being IwD on employment inequalities is limited by the homophilious employment patterns demonstrated by the consistent employment inequalities favoring CnD. Overall, our findings demonstrate that homophily, intersecting identities, and group size at the societal level shape employment inequalities at varying degrees and directions.

Adapting Minority Group Threat to Examine the Social Control of Sexual Orientation Bias.

Blalock proposed that the threat of a minority group toward a majority in sheer size, economic competition, or power will result in an increase in discrimination toward that group. His original formulation of this theory of minority group threat, and its subsequent extensions, has focused almost exclusively on racial minority-majority relationships; however, Blalock asserted that his theory would apply to any minority-majority group relationship. Extensions to religious groups have shown this is likely the case. The current analysis assesses a further extension of minority group threat by reframing the arguments of the theory and adding two additional sources of threat to examine sexual orientation bias. Data from the Uniform Crime Reports Hate Crime Statistics program are used to assess whether the minority group threat hypotheses explain the reporting of sexual orientation bias crimes. The findings indicate that the original formulation of Blalock's theory does not suffice to explain the reporting of anti-Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual bias crime, but the proposed extensions may explain some of this variation.

Welcoming the Outsider: Local Variations in the Construction of the Law Towards Immigrants - Police Departments

This paper examines the local construction of law on the street regarding immigrants. Local agencies play a key role in immigration enforcement and in providing services to immigrants. As such, they are increasingly the ‘face of the state’ to immigrants, a face which varies across localities and regions and ranges from friendly to hostile. Some agencies have a full array of policies and procedures for providing services to immigrants, including policies requiring equal service without regard to immigration status, informational materials in foreign languages and training in providing neutral professional service, while others have few or none of these things. The purpose of this paper is two-fold; first, it develops a framework for measuring the degree of ‘welcomeness’ of public agencies. Second, it examines how widely local agencies are welcoming (or unwelcoming) to immigrants and what are the conditions that shape the degree of welcomeness. To address these questions, this paper uses results from nationwide surveys of local police departments in cities with a minimum population of 10,000 and a foreign-born population of least 5%. The research is framed by three competing theoretical approaches: minority group threat, neo-institutionalism and situational imperatives. Minority-threat theory suggests that agencies are more punitive toward minorities the greater the minority population. Neo-institutional theories suggest that agencies are somewhat insulated from local pressures and instead are influenced by broader institutional norms. Theories of situational imperatives suggest that front-line staff react toward people differently depending on the characteristics of the situation and the presumed moral worthiness of the person. This study improves understanding of how administrative policies and practices evolve in the context of political and institutional pressures. Preliminary results find a remarkable degree of deliberate welcomeness toward immigrants even in some politically conservative states.

Public Libraries and Immigrants: Influences on the Degree of Welcomeness

This paper examines the local construction of law on the street regarding immigrants. Local agencies play a key role in immigration enforcement and in providing services to immigrants. As such, they are increasingly the ‘face of the state’ to immigrants, a face which varies across localities and regions and ranges from friendly to hostile. Some agencies have a full array of policies and procedures for providing services to immigrants, including policies requiring equal service without regard to immigration status, informational materials in foreign languages and training in providing neutral professional service, while others have few or none of these things.Much of the research has focused on law enforcement actions towards immigrants, but many other public agencies frequently interact with these groups and shape official policies and immigrant perceptions of the state. This paper focuses on public libraries a service organization that receives scant public or academic attention. The purpose of this paper is two-fold; first, it develops a framework for measuring the degree of ‘welcomeness’ of public agencies. Second, it examines how widely local agencies are welcoming (or unwelcoming) to immigrants and what are the conditions that shape the degree of welcomeness. To address these questions, this paper uses results from nationwide surveys of local public library systems in counties with a minimum population of 30,000 and a foreign-born population of least 5%. The research is framed by three competing theoretical approaches: minority group threat, neo-institutionalism and economic regimes. Libraries face conflicting political pressures that are often hostile to immigrants and professional norms favoring equal service to all in the community. The degree of welcomeness depends on the balance between these opposing forces. This study improves understanding of how administrative policies and practices evolve in the context of political and institutional pressures. Preliminary results find a remarkable degree of deliberate welcomeness toward immigrants even in some politically conservative states.

Racial Encroachment and the Formal Control of Space: Minority Group-Threat and Misdemeanor Arrests in Urban Communities

The study examined the minority group-threat hypothesis across a metropolitan setting to test whether (1) increases in black and Latino representation in communities were associated with increased misdemeanor arrests and (2) if increases in minority groups in historically white communities were associated with increased police arrests. The study argued that threat trigger variables should be measured in terms of difference scores and weighted by initial dominant group representation. The latter argument is informed by the defended neighborhood perspective and assesses the threat hypotheses in historically white communities. Using negative binomial regression modeling that adjusted for spatial autocorrelation, the study found that net of theoretical controls, increases in percent black population were associated with increased black misdemeanor arrests, but only in historically white census tracts. Increases in Latino representation were associated with increased minority misdemeanor arrests both across all tracts generally, as well as in historically majority white tracts.

Global support for the death penalty

The recently released Gallup International 2000 Millennium Survey Poll collected data from individuals residing in 59 countries. The focus of this research was to analyze these data to examine whether the abolition movement has ushered in a new ‘collective sensibility’ about the death penalty or whether global attitudes toward capital punishment are characterized by deep divisions. The research assumes that the long-term stability of abolition will be assured when the vast majority of the citizens of the world oppose the use of the death penalty. The findings reveal that there are deep cleavages in worldwide support for capital punishment. The article highlights five divides in support for capital punishment and then separately discusses the results from the human rights and minority group threat analyses.

RACIAL–ETHNIC INTOLERANCE AND SUPPORT FOR CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: A CROSS‐NATIONAL COMPARISON*

This article tests cross‐nationally the minority group threat thesis that public sentiments toward repressive crime‐control policies reflect conflicted racial and ethnic relations. Using multiple data sets representing France, Belgium, the Netherlands, East and West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Canada, Ireland, and Portugal, we examine whether racial and ethnic intolerance—animus, resentments, or negative sentiments toward minorities—predicts greater support for the death penalty. Our results reveal that the respondents were significantly more likely to express support for capital punishment if they were racially or ethnically intolerant while controlling for other covariates of public opinion. These findings indicate that the link between support for capital punishment and racial and ethnic animus may occur universally in countries with conflicted racial and ethnic relations.

Contemporary Hate Crimes, Law Enforcement, and the Legacy of Racial Violence

This article investigates the association between past lynchings (1882 to 1930) and contemporary law enforcement responses to hate crimes in the United States. While prior research indicates a positive correlation between past levels of lynching and current social control practices against minority groups, we posit an inverse relationship for facets of social control that are protective of minorities. Specifically, we hypothesize that contemporary hate crime policing and prosecution will be less vigorous where lynching was more prevalent prior to 1930. Analyses show that levels of past lynching are associated with three outcome variables germane to hate crime policing and prosecution, but the effect of lynching is partly contingent on the presence of a minority group threat. That is, past lynching combined with a sizeable black population largely suppresses (1) police compliance with federal hate crime law, (2) police reports of hate crimes that target blacks, and in some analyses (3) the likelihood of prosecuting a hate crime case. Our findings have implications for research on law and intergroup conflict, historical continuity in the exercise of state social control, and theories that emphasize minority group threat.

Are Hispanics the new ‘Threat’? Minority group threat and fear of crime in Miami-Dade County

Research examining the determinants of fear of crime has arguably raised more questions than it has answered. This exploratory study addresses one of the compelling questions that remains unanswered: what is the role of ethnicity, both at the community and individual levels, in understanding variation in fear of crime? Guided by racial or minority group threat theory, we examine the relative sizes of both the Black and Latino populations as indicators of minority group threat to determine their role in understanding individual fear of crime in a city where Latinos represent a much larger proportion of the population than Blacks (Miami-Dade County, Florida). Furthermore, the race and ethnic backgrounds of the respondents are also considered to evaluate their role in understanding variation in the fear of crime. Using both Census tract-level data and data collected from a NIDA sponsored grant that was part of a larger study about physically disabled residents, our findings reveal that in Miami-Dade County where Blacks are highly segregated from whites, the relative size of the Latino population is a predictor of fear of crime among white residents. Implications of this finding are considered, including a call for more nuanced research focusing on the predictors of fear of crime within multiethnic communities.

The Context of Minority Group Threat: Race, Institutions, and Complying with Hate Crime Law

A wealth of research suggests a direct association between minority group size and government social control, such as arrest or imprisonment rates. Prior work in this vein, however, gives scant attention to (1) types of law that explicitly address intergroup conflict and (2) regional variation in the salience of minority group threat. At the same time, research on organizational responses to law indicates that institutional linkages to legal environments dictate policy innovation and compliance, yet the relevance of such linkages for law enforcement agencies is less clear. The present research investigates these themes by focusing on law enforcement responses to hate crime in the United States. Data from a sample of large municipal and county policing agencies and their degree of compliance with the federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act are analyzed. Main effects models show that compliance with federal hate crime law is less likely in places with larger black populations, an intriguing finding in light of extant work suggesting that both formal social control and race-based hate crime offending are typically more prevalent where more blacks reside. This effect of black population size on compliance with hate crime law, however, is contingent on region. A positive correlation in the Northeast contrasts with an inverse association in the South. The findings also suggest that organizational facets of law enforcement agencies, notably their engagement in community policing, are associated with compliance. The results elaborate and qualify group threat explanations of government social control and contribute to a burgeoning literature on the utility of organizational theory in the realm of law enforcement.

A POLITICAL THREAT MODEL OF INTERGROUP VIOLENCE: JEWS IN PRE?WORLD WAR II GERMANY

Research often links minority group size and economic conditions with levels of intergroup violence, in line with facets of group threat and structural theories of intergroup crime. Building on the group threat perspective, we investigate the political antecedents of intergroup violence. This work tests the theoretical premise that violence against minority groups increases with the strength of political parties associated with minority group interests, independent of group size and economic conditions. This model is tested empirically for the case of violence against Jews in pre–World War II Germany, where Jews constituted a small proportion of the German population but were often associated with the leadership of the political left. Findings suggest that the gross domestic product and Jewish population size did not have predicted effects on major violent incidents against Jews. It was in fact the rising strength of leftist political parties that ignited anti-Semitic violence. Other venues where this model could be applied are proposed, and the findings are discussed in the context of intergroup violence and theories emphasizing minority group threat.

Minority threat and punishment: A cross-national analysis*

There has been considerable recent interest in understanding how changes within the racial and ethnic landscape contribute to both the increased segregation of minority populations and their punishment. The minority group-threat hypothesis proposes that punishment is one outcome of the regulation of groups that are racially, culturally, or ethnically different. This study examined the relationship between population heterogeneity and the use of punishment, measured in terms of abolition of the death penalty and imprisonment rates in 140 nations. Controlling for modernization, political repression, violent crime, and economic stress, the findings indicate that population heterogeneity was positively associated with imprisonment. Likewise, lesser diversity was associated with the abolition of capital punishment. Our results suggest that definitions of minority threat be expanded to include indicators of language and religion as well as race and ethnicity.

Social control in the metropolis: A community-level examination of the minority group-threat hypothesis*

Research on the minority group-threat hypothesis has often found that the percentages of black and Latino populations at the city level have predicted variations in municipal police resources, net of all measured control variables. To date, no study has linked changes in minority representation within a single city over time at the community level to changes in the allocation of police resources. This study tested the hypothesis in 74 New York City police precincts in 1975, 1982, and 1992. It found that increases in the percentages of Latino populations of precincts have predicted changes in police deployment, and the link between Latino populations and police deployment is nonlinear.

Beyond Racial Threat: Failure of an Old Hypothesis in the New South: Comment

Previous articleNext article No AccessResearch NotesBeyond Racial Threat: Failure of an Old Hypothesis in the New South: CommentMicheal W. Giles, and Melanie A. BucknerMicheal W. Giles Search for more articles by this author , and Melanie A. Buckner Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Politics Volume 58, Number 4Nov., 1996 Sponsored by the Southern Political Science Association Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/2960154 Views: 4Total views on this site Citations: 22Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1996 University of Texas PressPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Kristina M. LaPlant, Deryl Mack Seckinger, Keith E. Lee, James T. LaPlant Cocked, Locked, and Loaded: An Analysis of the Five Policy Regimes of Concealed Carry on College Campuses, Politics & Policy 49, no.11 (Jan 2021): 61–86.https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12389Christopher A. Simon, John Frendreis, Raymond Tatalovich Economics, morality, or race: Referenda voting on tribal gaming legalization, The Social Science Journal 29 (Apr 2020): 1–15.https://doi.org/10.1080/03623319.2020.1744948Daniel P. Hawes Coming Together to Punish Others: Social Capital, Racial Context, and Social Control*, Social Science Quarterly 100, no.44 (Apr 2019): 1094–1111.https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12628Joshua N. Zingher, M. Steen Thomas The Spatial and Demographic Determinants of Racial Threat, Social Science Quarterly 68 (Apr 2014): n/a–n/a.https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12095Jason H. Windett, Kevin K. Banda, Thomas M. 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Minority Group Threat, Crime, and Policing: Social Context and Social Control.

Preface Minority Group Threat, Crime, and Policing Social Context in the National and Historical Perspective Minority Visibility and Social Control Across the Nation: Variations in Hostility and Social Control The Changing National Perspective: A Decade of Transition in Large Industrial Cities Mid-Sized Cities at the End of the Decade A Decade's Change in Southern and Western Cities Policing, Minorities, and Social Context: Conclusions and Implications Appendix Index