Article Summary

In the article, “Islamophobia and Threat Perceptions: Explaining Anti-Muslims Sentiments in the West,” Sabri Ciftci investigates the sources of rising Islamophobic sentiments in the West.[1] Using a case/comparative approach of western attitudes towards Islam, three theories are investigated including perceived threat, social identity, and cognitive capabilities.[2] Ciftci uses surveys, which are then ranked by anti-Islamic sentiments, investigating five hypotheses to explore anti-Muslim sentiments in five countries due to a number of factors including social group membership, cultural and social values, and education level.[3] Ciftci is then able to observe what variables are statistically significant.[4] Ciftci finds that Westerners often perceive Muslims are fanatical, violent, and supportive of terrorism if they feel their culture or physical well-being are threatened, while the effects of religion are small.[5] Although this article investigates Western perceptions of Islam and anti-Muslim sentiments, I can use some of this research for my own project such as ideas of the “in-group” and “out-group” and feelings of having one’s physical or cultural existence threatened. Sentiments that are felt by Westerns towards Muslims can be the same sorts of sentiments Iraqi Muslims feel towards Christians.

 

 

Ciftci, S. “Islamophobia and Threat Perceptions: Explaining Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West.” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 32, no. 3 (2012): 293–309.

[1] S. Ciftci, “Islamophobia and Threat Perceptions: Explaining Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West,” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 32, no. 3 (2012): 293.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid. 296.

[4] Ibid. 303.

[5] Ibid. 306.

One Comment

  1. Reply
    Dr. Boesenecker September 29, 2017

    A great, concise, summary Rachel! You’ve done a good job in identifying the key research elements of the article, as well as making a connection between the theoretical frameworks used in this article and your own proposed topic (even as the article itself focuses on a different region). Nice work!

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