Symbolic threat frames adoption of outgroup culture as losing racial identity

Evidence

Speech accommodation, or language switching, refers to the sometimes subtle and unspoken negotiation by which a language is selected for communication between bilinguals from two ethnolinguistic groups. Often, the selection of the language of one’s ingroup, and the corresponding rejection of the language of the outgroup, represents a unique linguistic form of ingroup bias (e.g., Giles, Taylor, & Bourhis, 1973). For example, in the Gaeltacht (Gaelic-speaking) west coast of Ireland where speaking in Gaelic was a criminal offense for generations, a sign common in many inns and taverns reads, “Irish spoken. English understood.” Hogg, D’Agata, and Abrams (1989) documented that Italian immigrants to Australia responded negatively to fellow Italian immigrants who engaged in an “ethnolinguistic betrayal” by speaking the dominant (English) language of the host receiving nation. Once again, this linguistic facet of intergroup hostility is obviously of particular importance in bior multi-lingual environments. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1292 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Such experiences increased in-group solidarity and identification with their religious identity. Brown (2001) observes that as Muslim identities have been constructed as ‘other’ to western identities, an attempt to distort Muslim identities, or to suppress the symbols of these identities, often has the opposite effect; it strengthens these identities. — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 255 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In fact, “whiteness” appears not to be politically significant in America today. In recent research it has been indexed in terms of self-categorization as a White, a sense of White identity (using such items as “How often do you think of yourself as White?” or “How strongly do you identify with other Whites?”), or pro-White affect (using a feeling thermometer). In several NES and Los Angeles surveys, these variables have had small and usually nonsignificant correlations, averaging below r = 0.05, with either symbolic racism or racial policy preferences. In contrast, outgroup antagonism, as indexed by symbolic racism, almost invariably correlates with racial policy preferences at 0.40 or higher (Sears & Henry, in press). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2192 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ethnic identification amplifies white support for anti-immigrant policies under diversity threat cues — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity: Why…, 48; Being culturally cutting edge draws people into actively embracing a post-racial identity — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1269; White identity threats split between ingroup-centered decline and outgroup-centered power — Efrén Pérez, Jessica HyunJeong Lee, Ana Oaxaca, Tania Solano Cervantes, Jasmine García Rodríguez, Kimberly Lam, and David McFall, Manifold Threats to White Identity and…, 7 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Choosing an outgroup’s language is perceived as ethnic betrayal #exemplifies (0.93) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1292
• Suppressing a stigmatised group’s identity symbols strengthens rather than erodes that identity #complicates (0.74) — Irene Zempi and Imran Awan, Islamophobia, 255
• White ingroup identity is politically inert while outgroup antagonism drives policy preferences #complicates (0.73) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2192
• Recategorizing outgroup members as ingroup members diminishes perceived threat. #complicates (0.72) — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup Attitudes, 175