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ABSTRACT
This study examines the relationship between perceived discrimination and political engagement among foreign-born and native-born visible minorities in Quebec; it investigates whether experiences of discrimination can help account for visible minorities’ weaker political engagement. The results indicate that the relationship between perceived discrimination and political engagement is complex. On the one hand, visible minorities who have experienced discrimination express lower levels of satisfaction with democracy, weaker attachment to Quebec and a lower propensity to vote. On the other hand, they are more active in four types of non-electoral political activities. Hence, if perceived discrimination demobilises visible minorities in their relationship with formal political institutions and weakens their bond with the community, it appears to help mobilise visible minorities in channels of political participation associated with greater citizen empowerment. The results also indicate that the relationship between perceived discrimination and political engagement is of equal strength among foreign-born and native-born minorities.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the Secrétariat aux affaires intergouvernementales canadiennes du gouvernement du Québec (programme de soutien à la recherche en affaires intergouvernementales et identité québécoise) for its financial support in conducting the 2012 Quebec election visible minority survey. The author would also like to thank André Blais and the Making Electoral Democracy Work Project for granting access to the 2012 Quebec election survey. The author remains solely responsible for the analysis and interpretation of the results.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. A certain number of studies indicate that the negative relationship between perceived discrimination and political engagement is especially acute when immigrants or ethnic minorities identify with the majority group (Schildkraut Citation2005; Valdez Citation2011). Unfortunately, this study does not possess any information with regards to respondents’ sense of identification with the ethnic community.
2. It is worth mentioning that Valdez (Citation2011) uses an indicator of perceived group discrimination and not one of perceived personal discrimination. Such indicator or perceived group discrimination might be capturing something closely related to group consciousness that is different and larger than the phenomenon of perceived personal discrimination and that somewhat overlaps with political engagement and political mobilisation.
3. Of those 723 respondents, 568 were surveyed again in the 2 weeks after the vote. Respondents were all members of the Léger Internet panel of more than 400,000 people currently living in Canada who were recruited randomly over the phone (61%) or through various other means. Léger’s annual recruitment rate for the panel is approximately 15,000 new members a year, while about 10,000–12,000 panellists are removed from the panel or opt out each year. Respondents pre-identified as members of a visible minority group received an email invitation to participate in the survey. Each invitation email contained a unique invitation link (URL) that could only be used once. This ensured that no respondent could answer the survey on more than one occasion nor share the link with friends. Panellists are rewarded for their participation over time using a series of financial incentives. No specific response rate can be calculated for an online survey because unlike telephone surveys, it is not possible to evaluate whether people refused to participate or did not read or receive the invitation.
4. The question was not asked in the standard questionnaire of the MEDW project; accordingly, we do not possess any information about perceived discrimination among respondents who are not members of a visible minority group.
5. To measure the frequency of discrimination, four choices were offered to respondents: (1) at least once a month, (2) several times a year, (3) about once a year or (4) only some isolated incidents. Because there are so few cases in two of the categories – ‘about once a year’ (6%) and ‘several times a year’ (6%) – the categories ‘every month’ and ‘several times a year’ are merged together, and the categories ‘about once a year’ and ‘a few isolated incidents’ are also merged together. This leaves us with a three-category scale measuring perceived discrimination (never, occasional and frequent).
6. It is difficult to examine in greater detail the extent to which various specific groups experience discrimination and to what extent these experiences relate to their political engagement because of the small samples associated with each specific group. Nevertheless, a brief look at the data indicates that two groups appear somewhat more likely to experience discrimination – namely Blacks and those of Middle-Eastern origin; the proportion within each group reporting that they experience discrimination frequently is 31%. In comparison, the proportion reporting frequent discrimination is lowest among those of Latin American origin (16%) and is 20% among respondents of Chinese origin. No distinction between foreign-born and native-born minorities is possible for these group-specific analyses.
7. The questions asking whether or not respondents have voted in the latest Quebec elections and whether they have taken part in the four non-electoral activities were part of the post-election survey to which a smaller number of respondents took part in.
8. Like many other elections surveys (see Holbrook and Krosnick Citation2010), the survey used for this study overestimates voter turnout in the elections. Official voter turnout during the 2012 elections was 74.6% (Directeur général des élections du Québec Citation2012).
9. The particularly high proportion of foreign-born minorities holding a university degree is in part the result of the point system to select immigrants that give great importance to education as a selection criterion.
10. Additional multivariate analyses investigating group-specific differences indicate that respondents of Chinese origin present the most systematic profile of weaker political engagement in comparison to the rest of the population; they are less attached to Quebec and less likely to be involved in all four types of non-electoral activities. Respondents of Latin American origin present a profile of political engagement of equal strength as that of the rest of the population. No clear pattern is observed for respondents of Middle-Eastern origin or other origin. Results not presented. These additional analyses did not distinguish between foreign-born and native-born respondents within in each group.
11. Additional multivariate analyses indicate that the relationship between perceived discrimination and political engagement is not stronger among groups who experience discrimination more often than other groups, namely Blacks and those of Middle-Eastern origin, nor for respondents of Chinese origin. Results not presented; these additional analyses did not distinguish between foreign-born and native-born respondents.
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Antoine Bilodeau
Antoine Bilodeau is professor in the Department of Political at Concordia University in Montreal. His research interests focus on the political integration of immigrants and the dynamics of public opinion toward ethnic diversity and immigration.