Anti-Muslim bias is not distinctive but tracks general out-group stereotyping, especially toward cultural outsiders.

Evidence

One prominent empirical study found that anti-Muslim sentiments are shaped by feelings toward both racial/religious minority out-groups and cultural out-groups (such as feminists or people on welfare), but feelings toward cultural out-groups are more closely related to sentiments toward Muslims. 9 According to this study, there is nothing distinctive about white American attitudes toward Muslim Americans; they are (unfortunately) subject to the same kind of negative out-group stereotyping as African Americans, Latinos, Jews, gays and lesbians, welfare recipients, and other “non-traditional” groups. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 252

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s guiding question about relocating the problem from ‘them’ to ‘us’ — this shows Muslim bias is a species of general American out-group dynamics.