Iranian American Perceptions of Experienced Prejudice and Discrimination in the Political and Social Context of the United States of America

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.