Iranian American Perceptions of Experienced Prejudice and Discrimination in the Political and Social Context of the United States of America
Date
2014-05
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
[Honolulu] : [University of Hawaii at Manoa], [May 2014]
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
The post 9/11 context created a political and social climate in the United States (U.S.) that promoted prejudice and discrimination against anyone who looked Middle Eastern (e.g., Iranian) or Muslim (Britto, 2008). I was interested in how much and what kinds of prejudice and discrimination Iranian Americans with various religious affiliations perceived. Iranian American perceptions were explored by examining their Social Identity (Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Tanti, Stukas, Halloran, & Foddy, 2010). The specific dimension of Iranian American social identity examined was religious affiliation and how it related to perceived Ethnic Harassment (Schneider, Hitlan, & Radhakrishnan, 2000) and Social Distance (Bogardus, 1947; Rollock & Vrana, 2005) from Euro Americans. Based on the current social and political context and social identity differences between Iranian Americans and Euro Americans, I hypothesized that Iranian American Muslims would report perceiving more experiences of prejudice and discrimination (as assessed by measures of frequency and severity) than would Iranian American Jews or those without religious affiliation. In addition, I hypothesized that Iranian American Muslims, who appeared more prototypically Muslim, would report perceiving a higher rate of prejudice and discrimination (as assessed by measures of frequency and severity), than did Iranian American Muslims who appeared more prototypically Western.
A survey was posted on Surveymonkey.com and participants were approached in Persian grocery stores. A total of 374 Iranian Americans, ages 18 and older, filled out an online or in-person survey packet that included the following: a consent form, an adaptation of the Ethnic Harassment Experiences Scale (EHES) (Schneider, Hitlan, & Radhakrishnan, 2000), an adaptation of the Social Distance Scale (Bogardus, 1959), a brief religiosity scale (Allport & Ross, 1967), and a demographic questionnaire. I discovered that Iranian American Jewish and Muslim participants reported perceiving significantly higher rates of ethnic harassment and social distance from Euro Americans than did Iranian Americans with no religious affiliation.
Description
Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2014.
Includes bibliographical references.
Includes bibliographical references.
Keywords
Perception, Iranian, Prejudice, Discrimination
Citation
Extent
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Theses for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (University of Hawaii at Manoa). Psychology.
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.