Saturday, December 22, 2012

Are You a Perceived Islamophobe?

Diagram of perceived Islamophobia
Fig. 1. Estimated unconstrained structural equation model. Coefficients displayed in the following order: German-Turks/French-Maghrebis/British-Pakistanis; p < .055, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

The mysterious diagram above is not something I made up. It is not a product of the fetid fervor of my imagination. It is in fact part of the latest research in one of the most cutting-edge disciplines in the Social Sciences: the study of Perceived Islamophobia.

Not surprisingly, this new field was incubated in the intellectual hatcheries of the Norwegian fjords. The authors of this paper on Perceived Islamophobia are Jonas R. Kunsta, of the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, and David L. Samb and Pål Ulleberga of the Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen.

Islamophobia is possibly the single most pressing problem facing the world today, so these scientists’ research is timely indeed. It will supply a solid base of empirical data to help guide policy planners and lawmakers throughout the nations of the West. I’m certain that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu will be among the first to express their gratitude to these three esteemed scholars, whose efforts lay the groundwork for new national anti-defamation laws, as required by the United Nations in its struggle to combat the defamation of religions.

Below are excerpts from the abstract of the article. The complete paper is available here.

Perceived islamophobia: Scale development and validation

by Jonas R. Kunsta, David L. Samb, and Pål Ulleberga

Abstract

“Islamophobia” has been used as an umbrella term capturing different types of religious stigma towards Muslims. However, the operationalization of the term for research purposes varies greatly, where little attention heretofore has been paid on how islamophobia affects Muslim minorities’ lives.

Against this background, we aimed to develop and validate the Perceived Islamophobia Scale (PIS). In the first study (167 German-Arabs, 184 German-Turks and 205 British-Pakistanis), exploratory factor analyses of a preliminary item pool gave support of a three-factor scale in all samples. Subscales were computed for each factor (i.e., perceptions of a general fear of Islam and Muslims, fear of islamization, and islamophobia in the media), which were reliable across the samples.

In all samples, the PIS was positively related to psychological distress and in two samples this relation remained significant, after controlling for experiences of discrimination. In Study 2 (262 German-Turks, 277 French-Maghrebis and 249 British-Pakistanis), confirmatory factor analyses supported the structural equivalence of the scale's three-factor solution. The PIS was positively related to perceived stress and discrimination. Lastly, PIS predicted higher levels of religious and ethnic identification, controlling for discrimination.

The PIS seems to be a valid and reliable measure across different Muslim minority groups. The fact that perceptions of islamophobia in two samples negatively predicted psychological distress after controlling for experiences of discrimination, suggests that anti-discrimination laws may be insufficient in protecting Muslim minorities of the negative effects of stigma on psychological well-being.

Highlights

  • We develop and validate the Perceived Islamophobia Scale (PIS).
  • The scale measures perceptions of societal islamophobia among Muslim minorities.
  • Three subscales: general fear, fear of islamization and islamophobia in the media.
  • PIS positively relates to psychological distress, stress and discrimination.
  • PIS is positively related to Muslim participants’ ethnic and religious identities.
  • The scale seems to be a reliable and valid measure across cultural groups.

Keywords

  • Islamophobia
  • Islamization
  • Psychological health
  • Muslims
  • Identity
  • Perceived islamophobia
  • Discrimination
  • Well-being

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG. They are really "Taking the piss"

dymphna said...

Hey, wait: found in translation:

I noticed the name of their scale. Really, it should be the "Perceived Islamophobia Scale System" - i.e., the PISS.

As in these "scientists" are taking the PISS. Except that I'd be willing to bet a lot of their colleagues will nod in approval.

This is what happens in a country with a dumbing down of its culture and too much money lying around. Same thing has happened here.

IOW, this stuff is soo degraded that I've decided to stop worrying and am learning to love the idea of The End of the World as We Know It. When the creme de la creme issues forth with the Pis de la Pis, our so-called Western culture has obviously wandered into a dark cul de sac.

Anyone got a flashlight? Are the Chinese here yet?

Anonymous said...

Wonderful!! I suppose their next
project will be Christianaphobia as
observed in Islamic nations.

Carole

Mastermind said...

This is an extremely worrying developement. The similarity of this to leftist treatises about harmfulness of racism is undeniable. Just substitute racism for islamophobia. It's a proof leftists are starting to apply the racism treatment to "islamophobia".

Now remind yourself what kind of laws and behaviours does the left demand (often successfully) of governments and others alike in regard to racism.

Loosening of definition - there is no hard standard of what is racist or not. What the governments, leftists and supposed victims think is racism, is racism.
Soon apply the same to islamophobia.

Truth is no defense - leftists call many statements racist, even if they are obviously true and based on undisputable fact, saying it doesn't matter.
Soon apply the same to islamophobia.

Disparate impact laws - if some random law disparately applies to some practice in a way it's practicioners don't like, they sue the law as racist.
Soon apply the same to islamophobia.

Don't ask, don't tell - governments strongly avoid employing and doing business with known racists, just as people who even unintentionally say or do something considered to be racist. Private companies are also strong armed into doing so by lawyers, governments and NGO's.
And remember, it's easy to be get called a racist, and truth is no defense.
Soon apply the same to islamophobia.

Keep your racist mouth shut - in more public cases promoting racism in some countries is sometimes considered a crime.
Soon apply the same to islamophobia.

In conclusion:
What they are trying to achieve in about 10-30 years from now is to make islamophobia treated the same as racism is today. So, basically suspected, or worse confirmed islamophobia is an informal ban from working in or for the government, and a major discouragement for most potential employers, as they will be harrased for employing overt islamophobes "because they hurt muslim's feelings and self esteem".

Public promotion of islamophobia is to be prosecuted by law in some more "progressive" countries.
If your facts and numbers are "islamophobic", it is at very least strongly discouraged to publish them aswell.

Pierre_Picaud said...

The introduction to this post is quite possibly the funniest thing I have read.

Anonymous said...

"The fact that perceptions of islamophobia in two samples negatively predicted psychological distress after controlling for experiences of discrimination, suggests that anti-discrimination laws may be insufficient in protecting Muslim minorities of the negative effects of stigma on psychological well-being."

I need this clarified- Is this quote making the point that these individuals tested suffer psychological distress regardless of whether they have suffered negative incidents?

There seems to be more academic works appearing arguing that multicultural interactions are stress inducing in themselves. Could it be that we have adapted tribal mechanisms over our evolution that make our inclinations to remain amongst our own a natural action? I doubt much work will be done to find out.

ZvT

Anonymous said...

I notice these people don't seem to care about the "psychological distress" suffered by their countrymen and women, victims of Islamic terrorism, the inhabitants of Sderot, etc etc ...

Inalienable Rights said...

This is fantastic stuff! I can't wait for the sequel on the perceived deleterious cultural and economic effects in native European populations from seeing their countries trashed by their own leaders inviting Islamic overflow.

Interesting that nowhere in the study do they even for one second entertain the idea that maybe fear of Islam is rational. Would they ever do a paper analyzing "naziphobia" among Jews and its effect on Nazis?

Anonymous said...

Mohammed, PISS be upon him.
SyB

K. from Germany said...

Bet none of those eggheads ever actually read a Koran. But they are paid not to...

Anonymous said...



At first glance thought this graphic was an architectural schematic for a proposed concentration camp for Islamophobes.


Jolie Rouge

Balkaner said...

As a psychologist i will admit that Psychology/Psychiatry was always used and abused by the status quo.

"Islamophobia" is a real diagnosis in the western world (still, in eastern and central europe the therm is laughable), this is enough proof that soon legal resistance against the conservative islamists will become really hard.

Already there are left-wingers who call critics of Hamas and islamic terrorism "RACISTS" and "BIGOTS!". One of those nutters is using the nickname "SkidRowRadio".

Anonymous said...

Muslims feel psychological distress whenever Islam is not allowed to dominate. They are distressed by infidels acting as equals rather than dhimmis. Therefore, we should pay no heed to their distress.