Belgian-Dutch Political Science Conference, Date: 2017/06/01 - 2017/06/02, Location: Leiden

Publication date: 2017-06-01

Author:

Galle, Jolien

Abstract:

Due to the increased presence of migrants in Western societies, socioeconomic issues like the (re)distribution of incomes, social benefits and government aid are more and more framed as intergroup conflicts. According to liberal nationalists the related dilemma between diversity and multiculturalism on the one hand and well-functioning systems of social solidarity on the other hand, can be overcome by the sharing of a national identity. Recently, this argument has been put to test by studies looking at the relation between peoples’ national identity and their support for redistribution. However, they tend to focus exclusively on the perspective of majority group members. The aim of this study is to broaden this perspective and investigate the redistributive attitudes of people with a migration background. Compared to native citizens, the social identity of people with a migration background tends to be more complex because it is based on belonging to both a specific ethnic group and to the nation of residence. This dual identity is shown to be related to minorities’ political engagement and collective action, yet it remains a question whether it plays a role in the way they think about policy issues like redistribution and interventions of the national government. This study investigates ethnic minorities’ support for income redistribution is undermined or enhanced by their national and ethnic identity. In order to do this, we perform a multivariate analysis on data from the Belgian Ethnic Minorities Election Study 2014 (BEMES), a survey conducted among Belgians of Turkish (N=447) and Moroccan (N=434) descent.