Minority salience and political extremism

Arbeitspapier

We investigate how changes in the salience of a minority group affect the majority group's voting behavior. Specifically, we focus on Muslim communities and their increased salience in daily life during Ramadan. To estimate a causal effect, we exploit exogenous variation in the distance of German federal and state elections to the month of Ramadan over the 1980-2013 period. Our findings reveal an increased polarization of the electorate: vote shares for both right- and left-wing extremist parties increasein municipalities where mosques are located when the election date is closer to Ramadan. We use individual-level survey data to provide evidence on potential mechanisms. During Ramadan respondents perceive the share of foreign-born people living in their country as larger and reveal more negative attitudes towards Muslims. We complement these findings with evidence on increased numbers of violent attacks against Muslim communities shortly after Ramadan.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Working Paper ; No. 80

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior ; Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions ; Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡
• Thema: Salience ; Muslims ; Behavioral Political Economy ; Right-Wing Extremism

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Colussi, Tommaso ; Isphording, Ingo Eduard ; Pestel, Nico
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza (DISCE)
• (wo): Milano
• (wann): 2019

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/202854
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ