Radical belief systems from a majority and minority perspective: The role of (perceived) group norms, meta-perceptions, and misunderstandings

Today, Western democracies are characterized by social conflicts on issues such as the integration of Muslim immigrants, the position of Islam and the demarcation of group identities. This lead to concerns about mutual radicalization: among the majority population, the radical right gains momentum, while radical Islam becomes more popular among the Muslim minority group. The core argument of this project is that these two types of radical belief systems are intertwined and a product of group membership, warranting a joint and relational approach. Yet, such dual approach to radicalization is currently missing in the literature. To tackle this shortcoming, I will investigate the interplay between majority and minority radical belief systems as a result of misunderstandings within and between groups. Specifically, I will examine the relative influence of personal attitudes, perceived group norms (perceptions of the ingroup’s attitudes), and metaperceptions (perceptions of the outgroup’s attitudes) about intergroup attitudes (here, acculturation attitudes and stereotypes) on radicalization. These three perspectives give rise to different sources of misperceptions between groups, which will be evaluated (e.g., ‘I would like to interact more with Muslims’ –personal attitude–, ‘but I believe Muslims think we are asocial’ – meta-perception). For this research, I will draw upon two existing datasets, collect new data and conduct survey-embedded experiments.