Xenophobia and Islamophobia in Europe

by Raymond Taras

Overview

Are anti-Muslim attitudes becoming the spectre that is haunting Europe? Is Islamophobia as widespread and virulent as is made out? Or do some EU societies appear more prejudiced than others? To what extent are European fears about unmanaged immigration the basis for scapegoating Muslim communities? And is there an anti-elitest dimension to Europeans' protest about rapid demographic change occurring in their countries? This cross-national analysis of Islamophobia looks at these questions in an innovative, even-handed way, steering clear of politically-correct clichés and stereotypes. It cautions that Islamophobia is a serious threat to European values and norms, and must be tackled by future immigration and integration policy.Key Features:* First comprehensive study of Islamophobic attitudes in Europe: traces their origins and identifies their consequences* Comparative analysis of the roots of European xenophobia and its destructive consequence in the rise and spread of anti-Muslim attitudes* Explores the growing opposition to immigration across Europe, with a special focus on the cases of France and Germany* Textbook features include tables of comparative data and side bars illustrating key issuesKeywords:Europe, Islam, Muslims, Immigration, Xenophobia, Prejudice, Multiculturalism, Integration

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748650712
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	06/20/2012
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Raymond Taras is Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the Australian National Universityin Canberra and Professor of Political Science at Tulane Universityin New Orleans.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vi

1 Studying phobias 1

Framing Muslims as strangers 2

Confronting the phobia of foreigners 5

Where fear and prejudice come from 8

Prejudice and ethnicity 12

The overlay of religious intolerance and racism 14

Prejudice and religion 16

Phobias outside the West 19

Structure of the book 20

2 Norms and models of migrant rights 26

Debating immigration 27

Europe's commandments 28

Standard setting and strangers 29

Reconciling immigration and integration policies 31

Standard setting on family reunification and asylum 35

Norms and practices affecting irregular immigrants 38

The European Pact on Immigration and Asylum 39

The institutionalisation of norms 42

Ways of accommodating foreigners 45

The multicultural paradigm: the British case 47

Assimilation: the French republican ideal? 50

The myth of the single French nation 53

Exceptions to France's ethnic blindness 54

Assimilation, multiculturalism and Islam 56

Ldïcité and French Islam 60

Norms and fears 62

3 From fears about immigrants to prejudices against Muslims 68

From hospitality to hostility 69

The alleged wrongdoings of migrants 73

Europe's multiple insecurities 75

Evidence of xenophobic attitudes 77

Patterns of migrant settlement 80

Integration choices and migrant strategies 85

How gatekeeping functions 88

National differences in attitudes to immigration 92

Anti-immigrant political parties 94

4 Islamophobia's deep structures and shallow stereotypes 109

'Base and bastard Turks' 109

Explaining Islamophobia 114

Religious underpinnings of anti-Islamic ideas 118

Muslim community organisations and Islamophobia 120

Imagining the Muslim Other 123

Freedom of expression and Islamophobia 125

Survey research on anti-Muslim attitudes 127

Monitoring anti-Muslim bias 128

Muslims' experience of victimisation 130

The ethnic majorities' views 133

5 France: from assimilation to affirmative action? 140

Immigration growth, integration outcomes 140

Policy shift towards selectivity 143

Is there a 'French Islamophobia?' 144

French Muslim diversity 147

Radical stereotypes 149

Francising Islam 151

Contemporary anti-Muslim attitudes 154

Distinctive but not unusual Islamophobia? 158

6 Germany: from multiculturalism to Realpolitikl 166

Protests, violence and rhetoric 167

Guest workers and migration 169

Permanent foreigners? 171

Integrating an underclass 173

Organising Germany's Turks 175

German Turkophobia 179

Berlin's policies, Ankara's objections 180

Opposing Turkey's EU bid: how distinctly German? 183

Turkey's European values 187

7 Undoing Islamophobia 193

The making of anti-Muslim prejudice 193

Introducing contingent factors 195

The historical determinism of deep causes 198

Structural features and contingent events 201

Unmaking public opinion on Islam 204

Select bibliography 209

Index 218