Perceived threat and prejudice towards immigrants and Russian minorities living in Finland
Published in
Jyväskylä studies in humanitiesAuthors
Date
2017Discipline
Kulttuurienvälinen viestintäThis study is an attempt to better understand the relationship between Finns
and Russian minorities living in Finland. This study considers the role of
perceived threats to the attitudes of Finnish adolescents towards Russian
minorities. The theoretical framework for this study was the integrated threat
theory (ITT). Even though ITT has been revised and threats have been reduced
to two major threats (realistic and symbolic threats) (Stephan et al., 2015), this
study utilized the original conceptualization of ITT which stipulates that
prejudice and negative attitudes towards minorities can be explained by four
types of threats that are: realistic threats, symbolic threats, negative stereotypes,
and intergroup anxiety. Realistic threats are threats to the physical and
economic wellbeing and political power of the in-group; symbolic threats are
threats that arise because of differences in norms, values and morals with the
out-group; negative stereotypes are implied threats to the in-group; and
intergroup anxiety refers to the anxiety the in-group might experience in the
process of interaction with members of the out-group especially when both
groups have had a history of antagonism (Stephan & Stephan, 1996, 1998, 2000).
First, this study showed Finns in general do percieve Russian minorities as
a threat (realistic threat, symbolic threat, and negative stereotypes) and that
among the different types of threat, realistic threat and symobolic threat were
more prevalent among older Finns than among younger Finns. No significant
difference was found between both groups for negative stereotypes. This study
also showed perceived threat to be a significant predictor of prejudice, and that
among the different types of threat, negative stereotyping was the strongest
predictor of negative attitudes towards Russian minorities.
This study also revealed that Finnish adolescents generally perceive
immigrants as a threat and that among the different types of threats, realistic
threat and symbolic threat were the most perceived threats from immigrants in
Finland. This is especially important because realistic threat and symbolic threat
were found to be positively related to prejudice or negative attitudes towards
immigrants and this positive relationship between threat and prejudice was the
same among early, middle, and late adolescents.
...
Alternative title
Perceived threat and prejudice towards immigrants and Russian minoritiesPublisher
University of JyväskyläISBN
978-951-39-6972-1ISSN Search the Publication Forum
1459-4331Keywords
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