ULUSAL KİMLİK İNŞALARI VE ÖZCÜLÜĞÜN SIĞINMACI KARŞITI TUTUMLARA DAİR SONUÇLARI

Year 2023, , 36 - 59, 29.10.2023

Nur Soylu Yalçınkaya , Sabahat Çiğdem Bağcı

https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal_29.10.2023.3

Abstract

Bu çalışma özcülük, ulusal kimlik inşaları ve Türkiye’de Suriyeli sığınmacılara olan yaklaşımlar arasındaki ilişkilere odaklanmaktadır. Özcülük kavramı, ırk ve cinsiyet gibi toplumsal olarak inşa edilen kategorileri sabit, doğal, keskin sınırları olan ve insanların özelliklerini belirleyen unsurlar olarak görme eğilimini içermektedir. Bu çalışma, özcülük kavramını genişleterek ulusal kimliğe uyarlamaktadır. Ulusal kimlik özcülüğü, ulusların net ve kesin sınırları olan, sabit yapılar olduğu ve ulus üyelerinin özelliklerini belirlediği düşüncelerine dayanmaktadır. Uluslarla ilgili özcü görüşler, belirli bir ulusun niteliklerinin nasıl görüldüğünü şekillendirebilir. Bu görüşler doğrultusunda ulusal kimlik daha kısıtlayıcı bir biçimde tanımlanabilir. Örneğin, ulusal kimliğin vurgusu, ortak vatandaşlık yerine, ortak etnik ve kültürel köken üzerine kurulabilir. Bu tür bir etno-kültürel kimlik inşası da toplum içindeki etnik ve kültürel farklılıklar taşıyan gruplara karşı dışlayıcı yaklaşımları yordayabilir. Bu çalışmada, aracı değişkenli bu modeli yapısal eşitlik modellemesi yöntemiyle test etmek için 500 katılımcıdan veri topladık. Analiz sonuçlarına göre, ulusal özcülük, etno-kültürel ulusal kimlik tanımlamasını yordamakta, bu aracı değişken de sığınmacıları tehdit olarak görme ve sığınmacı karşıtı politikaları destekleme değişkenlerini yordamaktadır. Ulusal kimliği vatandaşlık üzerinden tanımlama eğilimi ise modelde aracı değişken rolü üstlenmemiştir. Çalışmamız, özcülük ve ulusal kimlik inşası alan yazınlarını bir araya getirmektedir. Bu sayede, topluma katılan sığınmacılar gibi ögelere karşı yaklaşımların psikolojik kökenlerinin anlaşılmasına katkı sunmaktadır. Bulgularımızın kuramsal ve uygulamalı sonuçları bu eksende tartışılmıştır.

Keywords

Özcülük, Ulusal Kimlik, Suriyeli Sığınmacılar, Göçmenler

CONSTRUCTIONS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY AND ESSENTIALISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR ANTI-REFUGEE POLICY SUPPORT

Abstract

The current study investigates the relationships between essentialism, constructions of national identity, and responses toward Syrian refugees in Turkey. We draw upon the concept of essentialism, which refers to tendencies to view socially constructed categories such as race and gender as fixed, natural, strictly bounded, and informative about people’s characteristics. We extend this concept to national essentialism, which we define as beliefs that the nation is a fixed entity with clear and strict boundaries that defines the qualities of its members. We argue that such an essentialist way of thinking will predict tendencies to define a particular national identity such as Turkishness in a more exclusionary way, by emphasizing common ancestral and cultural roots, rather than by emphasizing civic bonds such as citizenship. Such an ethno-cultural construction of the national identity, in turn, is likely to feed into tendencies to exclude ethnically and culturally diverse immigrant populations within the society. We have collected data from a sample of 500 participants to test our proposed mediation model using structural equation modelling. Our analyses have shown that national essentialism predicts endorsement of an ethno-cultural construction of the Turkish national identity, which, in turn, predicts greater perceived threat posed by refugees, and greater support for anti-refugee policies. Endorsement of a civic construction of national identity does not play a mediating role in the model. Our study connects the literatures on essentialism and constructions of national identity to shed light on the psychological roots of public responses toward newcomers to societies such as refugees. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of our findings.

Keywords

Essentialism, National Identity, Syrian Refugees, Immigrants

References

• Andreychik, M. R., & Gill, M. J. (2015). Do natural kind beliefs about social groups contribute to prejudice? Distinguishing bio-somatic essentialism from biobehavioral essentialism, and both of these from entitativity. Group Processes Intergroup Relations, 18(4), 454–474. Doi: 10. 1177/1368430214550341
• Ariely, G. (2012). Globalization, immigration and national identity: How the level of globalization affects the relations between nationalism, constructive patriotism and attitudes toward immigrants? Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 15(4), 539–557. Doi:10.1177/1368430211430518
• Bağcı, S. C., Baysu, G., Tercan, M., & Turnuklu, A. (2022a). Dealing with increasing negativity toward refugees: A latent growth curve study of positive and negative intergroup contact and approach-avoidance tendencies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Doi:10.1177/01461672221110325
• Bağcı, S. C., Verkuyten, M., & Canpolat, E. (2022b). When they want to take away what is “ours”: Collective ownership threat and negative reactions towards refugees. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, Doi:10.1177/13684302221084232.
• Bastian, B., & Haslam, N. (2006). Psychological essentialism and stereotype endorsement. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(2), 228–235. Doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2005.03.003
• Bastian, B., & Haslam, N. (2008). Immigration from the perspective of hosts and immigrants: Roles of psychological essentialism and social identity. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 11(2), 127–140. Doi:10.1111/j.1467- 839X.2008.00250.x
• Brubaker, R. (1992). Citizenship and nationhood in France and Germany. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press.
• Byrd, W. C., & Hughey, M. W. (2015). Biological determinism and racial essentialism: The ideological double helix of racial inequality. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 661(1), 8–22. Doi:10.1177/0002716215591476
• Byrne, J. (2011). National identity and attitudes toward immigrants in a “multicreedal” America. Politics & Policy, 39(4), 485-514. Doi: 10.1111/j.1747- 1346.2011.00301.x
• Chao, M. M., Chen, J., Roisman, G. I., & Hong, Y. (2007). Essentializing race: Implications for bicultural individuals’ cognition and physiological reactivity. Psychological Science, 18(4), 341–348. Doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01901.x
• Cingöz-Ulu, B. (2008). Structure of Turkish national identity and attitudes towards ethno-cultural groups in Turkey (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). York University, Toronto, Canada.
• Dar-Nimrod, I., & Heine, S. J. (2011). Genetic essentialism: On the deceptive determinism of DNA. Psychological Bulletin, 137(5), 800–818. Doi:10.1037/a0021860
• De Coninck, D., Ogan, C., & d’Haenens, L. (2020). Can ‘the other’ ever become ‘one of us’? Comparing Turkish and European attitudes toward refugees: A fivecountry study. International Communication Gazette, 83(3), 217–237. Doi:10.1177/1748048519895376
• Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., & Saguy, T. (2008). Another view of “we”: Majority and minority group perspectives on a common ingroup identity. European Review of Social Psychology, 18(1), 296-330.
• Esses, V. M., Hamilton, L. K., & Gaucher, D. (2017). The global refugee crisis: Empirical evidence and policy implications for improving public attitudes and facilitating refugee resettlement. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 78-123. Doi:10.1111/sipr.12028
• Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., & Bachman, B. A. (1996). Revisiting the contact hypothesis: The induction of a common ingroup identity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20(3-4), 271-290.
• Gil-White, F. J. (2001). Are ethnic groups biological “species” to the human brain?: Essentialism in our cognition of some social categories. Current Anthropology, 42, 515–554. Doi:10.1086/321802
• Haslam, N., Rothschild, L., & Ernst, D. (2000). Essentialist beliefs about social categories. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39(1), 113–127. Doi:10.1348/014466600164363
• Haslam, N., Rothschild, L., & Ernst, D. (2002). Are essentialist beliefs associated with prejudice? British Journal of Social Psychology, 41(1), 87–100. Doi:10.1348/014466602165072
• Hong, Y. Y., Chao, M. M., & No, S. (2009). Dynamic interracial/intercultural processes: The role of lay theories of race. Journal of Personality, 77(5), 1283- 1310. Doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00582.x
• Ignatieff, M. (1993). Blood and belonging: Journeys into the new nationalism. New York, NY, USA: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
• Janmaat, J. G. (2006). Popular conceptions of nationhood in old and new European member states: Partial support for the ethnic-civic framework. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 29(1), 50–78. Doi:10.1080/014198 70500352363
• Jayaratne, T. E., Ybarra, O., Sheldon, J. P., Brown, T. N., Feldbaum, M., Pfeffer, C. A., & P etty, E . M . ( 2006). W hite Americans’ g enetic l ay t heories o f r ace differences and sexual orientation: Their relationship with preju- dice toward Blacks, and gay men and lesbians. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 9(1), 77–94. Doi:10.1177/1368430206059863
• Jones, F. L., & Smith, P. (2001). Diversity and commonality in national identities: An exploratory analysis of cross-national patterns. Journal of Sociology, 37(1), 45- 63. Doi:10.1177/1440783011287561
• Jost, J. T ., Banaji, M . R ., & Nosek, B. A. (2004). A decade of s ystem j ustification theory: Accumulated evidence of conscious and unconscious bolstering of the status quo. Political Psychology, 25(6), 881–919. Doi:10. 1111/j.1467- 9221.2004.00402.x
• Kadianaki, I., & Andreouli, E. (2017). Essentialism in social representations of citizenship: An analysis of Greeks’ and migrants’ discourse. Political Psychology, 38(5), 833–848. Doi:10.1111/pops.12271
• Keller, J. (2005). In genes we trust: The biological component of psychological essentialism and its relationship to mechanisms of motivated social cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(4), 686–702. Doi:10.1037/0022-3514.88.4.686
• Kimel, S. Y., Huesmann, R., Kunst, J. R., & Halperin, E. (2016). Living in a genetic world: How learning about interethnic genetic similarities and differ- ences affects peace and conflict. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42(5), 688– 700. Doi:10.1177/0146167216642196
• Kosterman, R., & Feshbach, S. (1989). Toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes. Political Psychology, 10, 257-274. Doi:10.2307/3791647
• Kurtis, T., Yalcinkaya, N. S., & Adams, G. E. (2017). Silence in official representations of history: Implications for national identity and intergroup relations. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 5(2), 608–629. Doi:10.5964/jspp.v5i2.714
• Lindstam, E., Mader, M., & Schoen, H. (2021). Conceptions of national iden- tity and ambivalence towards immigration. British Journal of Political Science, 51(1), 93– 114. Doi:10.1017/S0007123418000522
• Leong, C. H., Komisarof, A., Dandy, J., Jasinskaja-Lahti, I., Safdar, S., Hanke, K., & Teng, E. (2020). What does it take to become “one of us?” Redefining ethnic-civic citizenship using markers of everyday nationhood. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 78, 10-19. Doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2020.04.006
• Morning, A. (2009). Toward a sociology of racial conceptualization for the 21st century. Social Forces, 87, 1167–1192. Doi:10.1353/sof.0.0169
• Morning, A. (2011). The nature of race: How scientists think and teach about human difference. University of California Press.
• No, S., Hong, Y. Y., Liao, H. Y., Lee, K., Wood, D., & Chao, M. M. (2008). Lay theory of race affects and moderates Asian Americans’ responses toward American culture. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(4), 991– 1004. Doi:10.1037/a0012978
• Özkırımlı, U. (2006, April 6). Türkiye'de milliyetçilik araştırması [A study of nationalism in Turkey]. Tempo, 957, 18-45.
• Pakulski, J., & Tranter, B. (2000). Civic, national and denizen identity in Australia. Journal of Sociology, 36, 205-222. Doi:10.1177/144078330003600205
• Pehrson, S., Brown, R., & Zagefka, H. (2009). When does national identifica- tion lead to the rejection of immigrants? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence for the role of essentialist in-group definitions. British Journal of Social Psychology, 48(1), 61–76. Doi:10.1348/014466608X28 8827
• Pehrson, S., Vignoles, V. L., & Brown, R. (2009). National identification and antiimmigrant prejudice: Individual and contextual effects of national defi- nitions. Social Psychology Quarterly, 72(1), 24–38. Doi:10.1177/ 019027250907200104
• Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 65–85. Doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.65
• Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(5), 751-783. Doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.751
• Prentice, D., & Miller, D. (2007). Psychological essentialism of human cate- gories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(4), 202–206. Doi:10.1111/j.1467- 8721.2007.00504.x
• R Core Team (2017). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.Rproject. org/
• Rangel, U., & Keller, J. (2011). Essentialism goes social: Belief in social determinism as a component of psychological essentialism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(6), 1056-1078. Doi:10.1037/a0022401
• Reijerse, A., Van Acker, K., Vanbeselaere, N., Phalet, K., & Duriez, B. (2013). Beyond the ethnic-civic dichotomy: Cultural citizenship as a new way of excluding immigrants. Political Psychology, 34(4), 611–630. Doi:10.1111/j.1467- 9221.2012.00920.x
• Rhodes, M., & Gelman, S. A. (2009). A developmental examination of the conceptual structure of animal, artifact, and human social categories across two cultural contexts. Cognitive psychology, 59(3), 244-274. Doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2009.05.001
• Rothi, D. M., Lyons, E., & Chryssochoou, X. (2005). National attachment and patriotism in a European nation: A British study. Political Psychology, 26, 135- 155. Doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2005.00412.x
• Rustenbach, E. (2010). Sources of negative attitudes toward immigrants in Europe: A multi-level analysis. International Migration Review, 44, 53–77. Doi: 10.1111/j.1747-7379.2009.00798.x
• Shulman, S. (2002). Challenging the civic/ethnic and West/East dichotomies in the study of nationalism. Comparative Political Studies, 35(5), 554–585. Doi:10.1177/0010414002035005003
• Skewes, L., Fine, C., & Haslam, N. (2018). Beyond Mars and Venus: The role of gender essentialism in support for gender inequality and backlash. PloS one, 13(7). Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0200921
• Smith, A. D. (2001). Nationalism: Theory, ideology, history. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
• Stephan, W. G., Renfro, C. L., Esses, V. M., Stephan, C. W., & Martin, T. (2005). The effects of feeling threatened on attitudes toward immigrants. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(1), 1-19. Doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2005.04.011
• Stephan, W. G., & Stephan, C. W. (1985). Intergroup anxiety. Journal of Social Issues, 41(3), 157–175. Doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1985. tb01134.x
• Taşdemir, N., & Öner‐Özkan, B. (2016). Definitions of Turkish in‐group boundaries: national participation and essentialism as predictors of intergroup attitudes in Turkey. Nations and Nationalism, 22(1), 143-164. Doi:10.1111/nana.12145
• Taşdemir, N. (2018). Definitions of national identity boundaries and attitudes toward Syrian refugees in Turkey. Türk Psikoloji Yazıları, 21, 19-21.
• Velasco González, K., Verkuyten, M., Weesie, J., & Poppe, E. (2008). Prejudice towards Muslims in the Netherlands: Testing integrated threat theory. British Journal of Social Psychology, 47(4), 667-685. Doi:10.1348/014466608X284443
• Verkuyten, M. (2003). Discourses about ethnic group (de-) essentialism: oppressive and progressive aspects. British Journal of Social Psychology, 42, 371–391. Doi:10.1348/014466603322438215
• Verkuyten, M., & Martinovic, B. (2015). Behind the ethnic–civic distinction: Public attitudes towards immigrants’ political rights in the Netherlands. Social Science Research, 53, 34–44. Doi:10.1016/j.ssrese arch.2015.05.002
• Verkuyten, M. (2018). The benefits of studying immigration for social psychology. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(3), 225-239. Doi:10.1002/ejsp.2354
• Verkuyten, M., Wiley, S., Deaux, K., & Fleischmann, F. (2019). To be both (and more): Immigration and identity multiplicity. Journal of Social Issues, 75(2), 390–413. Doi:10.1111/josi.12324
• Verkuyten, M., & Yogeeswaran, K. (2020). Cultural diversity and its implications for intergroup relations. Current Opinion in Psychology, 32, 1–5. Doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.010
• Wakefield, J. R., Hopkins, N., Cockburn, C., Shek, K. M., Muirhead, A., Reicher, S., & van Rijswijk, W. (2011). The impact of adopting ethnic or civic conceptions of national belonging for others’ treatment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37 (12), 1599–1610. Doi:10.1177/014 6167211416131
• Williams, M. J., and Eberhardt, J. L. (2008). Biological conceptions of race and the motivation to cross racial boundaries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94:1033. Doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.6.1033
• Wright, M. (2011). Diversity and the imagined community: Immigrant diversity and conceptions of national identity. Political Psychology, 32(5), 837–862. Doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2011.00843.x
• Wright, M., Citrin, J., & Wand, J. (2012). Alternative measures of American national identity: Implications for the civic‐ethnic distinction. Political Psychology, 33(4), 469-482. Doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2012.00885.x
• Yeğen, M. (2004). Citizenship and ethnicity in Turkey. Middle Eastern Studies, 40, 51-66. Doi:10.1080/0026320042000282874
• Yitmen, Ş., & Verkuyten, M. (2018a). Positive and negative behavioural intentions towards refugees in Turkey: The roles of national identification, threat, and humanitarian concern. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 28(4), 230-243. Doi:10.1002/casp.2354
• Yitmen, Ş., & Verkuyten, M. (2018b). Feelings toward refugees and non‐Muslims in Turkey: The roles of national and religious identifications, and multiculturalism. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 48(2), 90-100. Doi: 10.1111/jasp.12493
• Yitmen, Ş., & Verkuyten, M. (2020). Support to Syrian refugees in Turkey: The roles of descriptive and injunctive norms, threat, and negative emotions. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 23(3), 293-301. Doi:10.1111/ajsp.12400
• Yitmen, Ş., Verkuyten, M., Martinovic, B., & Erdoğan, M. (2022). Acceptance of Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Roles of Perceived Threat, Intergroup Contact, Perceived Similarity and Temporary Settlement. In Examining Complex Intergroup Relations (pp. 150-174). Routledge.