Beyond a Majority–Minority Divide – Examining cross-national differences in ethnic hierarchies in nine European countries

WIP seminar

Tuesday, March 10th
12:15 to 13:00
UNIL - Géopolis, Room 5799

Vasilena Lachkovska: "Beyond a Majority–Minority Divide – Examining cross-national differences in ethnic hierarchies in nine European countries"

How are ethnic boundaries structured across Europe, and why do they vary in intensity? Building on ethnic boundary-making theory, this article examines whether majority responses reflect a generic majority–minority divide or a structured hierarchy among specific minority groups. It further explores whether differences in the steepness of these hierarchies can be observed and how they are associated with country-specific macro-level factors.

The analysis is based on a factorial survey experiment conducted in nine European countries (Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK; N ≈ 9,867 majority respondents; 59,202 vignette evaluations). Respondents rated their comfort with fictitious individual profiles randomly varying in ethnicity (majority, Turkish, Nigerian, Roma), religion, and socio-economic characteristics. 

Across all countries, majority profiles receive the highest comfort ratings. Cross-national differences lie not in whether minorities are penalised, but in how this penalty is structured. In eight of nine contexts, respondents differentiate systematically between Turkish, Nigerian, and Roma profiles rather than reacting to minority status per se. Most countries display a graded hierarchy with Roma profiles evaluated lowest. Czechia and Hungary show the steepest hierarchies, followed by Ireland and Switzerland. Germany, Belgium, and Spain exhibit more compressed middle tiers but still place Roma at the bottom. The UK approximates a binary majority–minority divide, while the Netherlands stands out for ranking Nigerians lowest, though minority disadvantage relative to the majority persists. To explain cross-country variation in penalty magnitude, we relate country-specific ethnic penalties to macro-level indicators capturing historical legacies, minority population shares, and globalisation. Historical legacies show the most consistent association with the steepness of ethnic hierarchies. Minority population shares are only weakly and inconsistently related to penalties. Globalisation, by contrast, is associated with more compressed hierarchies, suggesting that contemporary integration attenuates historically embedded boundary strength without effacing it.

Taken together, the findings indicate that an ethnic hierarchy is structurally embedded across Europe. Macro-level factors seem to shape its intensity but not its underlying structure. In particular, globalization seems to reconfigure historically anchored boundary regimes rather than replacing them. Consequently, it is important to recognize that social cohesion in diverse societies depends not only on integration, but also on deeper historical trajectories that continue to structure majority–minority relations.