Immigrant Altruism Confronts Outgroup Discrimination

• In Event: Emotions and the Psychology of Immigration Attitudes

Abstract

How do immigrant-origin group members respond to discrimination by the majority? Existing literature suggests that when a group becomes the target of discrimination or is perceived as a threat, members of that group seek to either associate with a different group or to improve the valuation of their existing group (e.g. Tajfel and Turner, 1979). Altruistic behavior is one form to enhance one’s ingroup valuation. Despite the importance of ingroup prosocial behavior to confront institutional and social hostility, such a behavior is underexplored by the existing literature. In this article we focus on anti-Muslimism in the United States triggered by the September 11th attacks. We identify Muslims’ ingroup investment in the form of prosocial behavior with two complementary analyses. First, we employ Internal Revenue Service records on the revenue of religious charities, and a difference-in-differences design that compares the revenue of Muslim charities against the revenue of other religious charities before and after the attacks. Second, using data from individual donations to public school classroom projects, we explore the patterns of project creation, funding and donations from majority-Muslim geographical areas. This article highlights the role of ingroup altruism among immigrant-origin ethno-religious minority groups in confronting outgroup discrimination.

Authors

• Vasiliki Fouka, Stanford University

• Stephanie Zonszein, University of California Berkeley