Unusual suspects? A group position approach to explaining anti-refugee attitudes among secular Turks.
Why do Turkish majority members with a secular outlook exhibit above-average levels of antipathy toward Syrian refugees, despite their left-leaning political views and relatively cosmopolitan cultural dispositions? We address this question through a sequential mixed methods design, integrating focus...
| Published in: | Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies Vol. 51; no. 9; pp. 2314 - 2336 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
May2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=184762965&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 184762965 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1369183X 56F jtl: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies issn: 1369183X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May2025 vid: 51 iid: 9 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 184762965 10.1080/1369183X.2025.2452261 ppf: 2314 ppct: 22 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 639KB tig: atl: Unusual suspects? A group position approach to explaining anti-refugee attitudes among secular Turks. aug: au: Morgül, Kerem Savaşkan, Osman affil: Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Elon University, Elon, NC, USA Department of Local Governments, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey su: Syrian refugees Social status Group theory Authoritarianism Turks sug: subj: Syrian refugees Social status Group theory Authoritarianism Turks keyword: group position theory lifestyle threats Muslim migrants political threats secularism ab: Why do Turkish majority members with a secular outlook exhibit above-average levels of antipathy toward Syrian refugees, despite their left-leaning political views and relatively cosmopolitan cultural dispositions? We address this question through a sequential mixed methods design, integrating focus group discussions and in-depth interviews conducted in Istanbul in late 2019 with an original survey of Istanbul residents fielded in July-August 2020. We find that secular Turks' attitudes toward Syrian refugees are entangled with the political and lifestyle threats they feel under President Erdoğan's increasingly authoritarian and Islamist regime. On one hand, secular citizens worry that Syrian refugees could shift the political balance in favor of Erdoğan, thereby further undermining the opposition's electoral prospects. On the other, they associate Syrian refugees with Turkey's growing estrangement from the West and the resulting decline in secularism and women's freedoms. Thus, secular Turks' animosity toward Syrian refugees does not stem merely from an aversion to religious traditionalism but reflects broader concerns about their own power and status in contemporary Turkey. Extending Blumer's group position theory, we argue that in deeply polarized societies, natives might view migrants through the lens of how these newcomers might affect their group's social position vis-à-vis other domestic groups. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2025 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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