Margarita Sanchez-Mazas

Identity, Immigration, and Prejudice in Europe: A Recognition Approach

Social identity is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, identifying with a social group is a prerequisite for the sharing of common norms and values, solidarity, and collective action. On the other hand, in-group identification often goes together with prejudice and discrimination. Today, these two sides of social identification underlie contradictory trends in the way European nations and European nationals relate to immigrants and immigration. Most European countries are becoming increasingly multicultural, and anti-discrimination laws have been adopted throughout the European Union, demonstrating a normative shift towards more social inclusion and tolerance. At the same time, racist and xenophobic attitudes still shape social relations, individual as well as collective behaviour (both informal and institutional), and political positions throughout Europe. The starting point for this chapter is Sanchez-Mazas’ (2004) interactionist approach to the study of racism and xenophobia, which in turn builds on Axel Honneth’s (1996) philosophical theory of recognition. In this view, the origin of attitudes towards immigrants cannot be located in one or the other group, but in a dynamic of mutual influence. Sanchez-Mazas’ approach is used as a general framework into which we integrate social psychological approaches of prejudice and recent empirical findings examining minority-majority relations. We particularly focus on the role of national and European identities as antecedents of anti-immigrant attitudes held by national majorities. Minorities’ reactions to denials of recognition are also examined. We conclude by delineating possible social and political responses to prejudice towards immigrants.

The philosophical implications of research on the social representations of human rights

The aim of this article is to show how human rights can be the object of another politics than the one Marcel Gauchet denounces as an “egalitarian ethnocentrism” and regards as grounding a “democratic counter-productivity”. Drawing upon the research developed by Willem Doise and his colleagues, we show that human rights, when they become social representations, rather than generating a society of undifferentiated individuals, allow the individual and collective differences to position themselves around a common stake. In this sense, the construction of shared social representations is an essential condition for the democratization process in our societies. We show how the use of human rights in the context of the French quarrel over the Muslim hijab has contributed to a gradual transformation of human rights into practical and representational matrices for the development of a truly democratic debate. Finally, the article addresses the need to reflect upon the conditions allowing the establishment of these social representations.

Factores asociados a la expresión del prejuicio como determinantes de la reducción de la discriminación

ResumenEl presente articulo analiza los procesos de reduccion de la discriminacion que acontecen como consecuencia del conflicto asociado a la expresion de un prejuicio. Dos factores asociados a la expresion del prejuicio son analizados como determinantes de este proceso. Por un lado se considera que determinadas relaciones entre grupos permiten la actual discriminacion, y que su reduccion acontecera cuando una actitud desfavorable se exprese en el marco de una relacion interpersonal que responsabilice al individuo de la expresion de tal prejuicio. En segundo lugar se considera que la reduccion de la discriminacion acontecera cuando la expresion de una actitud desfavorable hacia un grupo vaya en contra de una norma antidiscriminatoria. Un estudio experimental sobre la discriminacion que sufren los fumadores aporta resultados que confirman las predicciones establecidas por este modelo.