🚨New article🚨

Why does the ethnic majority expect that ethnic minorities "free ride" and contribute less to the collective?

In a new article in @bjpols.bsky.social, I show that negative expectations are driven by the correlates of ethnicity rather than ethnicity itself 🧵👇

OA-link: cup.org/4lOX7jN

For minority students, having similar peers increases well-being by promoting feelings of acceptance and belonging and reducing loneliness.

For majority students, a substantial share of out-group peers reduces well-being in particular by generating a dissatisfaction with the local environment. 7/9

For majority: Effects are largest when the share of minority students is substantial

For minority: Marginal effects flatten out + are substantial at lower conc. of similar peers

➡️ Whereas being in a dominant position is key for the majority, simply having someone is sufficient for the minority 5/9

What do we find?

Exposure to ethnic similarity increases well-being (std.) across diff. identification strategies and measures of similarity.

Ex: A higher share of non-Western students in the classroom decreases well-being for majority students and increases well-being for minority students. 4/9

Result #4

Is the positive effect of coethnic peers on naturalization consistent over time?

No. The positive effect is largest among those who attended school in the 1990s. 13/15

Result #3.2: Skills mechanism

Higher test scores in 9th grade are associated with an increased likelihood of acquiring Danish citizenship later on; results that are robust once the within-school-within-family model is used. 12/15

Result #3.1: Skills mechanism

Exposure to coethnics increases students’ test scores in math and Danish in the 9th grade exams. Avg. effects exist for all immigrants and descendants (A) but are driven by the population of interest - those without citizenship in the first school-year obs. (B). 11/15

Result #2

Does exposure to coethnic students increase naturalization? Yes. There is a positive effect of a higher coethnic concentration on citizenship acquisition.

The effect is mainly a product of the modest presence of co-ethnics (as native Danes often remains the dominant ethnic group). 8/15

Result #1

Does exposure to ethnic majority students increase naturalization? No. There is a small, negative, and decreasing effect of a higher ethnic majority concentration on citizenship acquisition. 7/15