(Mis)Perceptions of Ethnic Group Size and Consequences for Community Expectations and Cooperation With Law Enforcement

• Author: Toby Miles-Johnson,Susann Wiedlitzka,Suzanna Fay-Ramirez
• DOI: 10.1177/2153368716653662
• Date: 01 April 2018
• Published date: 01 April 2018
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

(Mis)Perceptions of Ethnic

Group Size and Consequences

for Community Expectations

and Cooperation With

Law Enforcement

Toby Miles-Johnson

1

, Suzanna Fay-Ramirez

2

and Susann Wiedlitzka

3

Abstract

The changing composition of race and ethnic group size has been noted for Western

nations over the last 15 years. Analysis of this change has linked fear of crime and

attitudes toward immigrants and prejudice. Changes in ethnic composition are

associated with movement of White residents out of traditionally White communities,

rising ethnic tension as the ethnic mix shifts, and a heightened sense of injustice

regarding the justice system. (Mis)perceptions of ethnic groups size shape attitudes

toward minority groups, as well as policy, practice, and individual behavior in the

context of the community. This study seeks to understand the extent of such mis-

perceptions in the Australian context and whether misperceptions of race and ethnic

composition are associated with beliefs and attitudes toward formal and informal

social control. Utilizing Blalock’s racial threat hypothesis, this study analyzes whether

perceived relative ethnic group size is associated with self-reported willingness to

cooperate with police as a way to minimize perceived threat. Findings suggest that

respondents overestimate the size of minority populations while underestimating the

majority White composition and that these misperceived distortions in ethnic group

size have consequences for informal and formal social control.

Keywords

race and public opinion, race/ethnicity, group size, misperception, law enforce ment,

racial threat

1

University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

2

University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

3

University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

Corresponding Author:

Toby Miles-Johnson, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK.

Email: t.miles-johnson@soton.ac.uk

Race and Justice

2018, Vol. 8(2) 99-125

ªThe Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/2153368716653662

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Global attention to the movement and treatment of immigrants and refugees, their

vulnerability in the host country as well as the perceived threat they may pose to safety

and security, has renewed focus on how ethnic and religious minorities are perceived

and how those attitudes shape the lives of individuals and communities. Growth in

ethnic minority group size has previously been linked to increased fear of crime,

negative attitudes toward immigrants, racial and religious intolerance, and increases in

criminal justice attitudes (see Alba, Rumbaut, & Marotz, 2005; Posick, Rocque, &

McDevitt, 2013; P. Y. Warren, Stewart, Tomaskovic-Devey, & Gertz, 2012). How-

ever, average citizens are not always able to accurately perceive changes in the size of

population groups (Sigelman & Niemi, 2001), yet their perceptions, or mispercep-

tions, have consequences for attitudes and actions. This means that the misperception

of ethnic group sizes has just as real consequences as the actual shift in population

size. These misperceptions shape attitudes toward minority groups and therefore

policy, practice, and individual behavior in the context of their community. This study

seeks to examine the extent to which a sample of Australian residents misperceive

ethnic and religious minority groups. We then further examine whether these mis-

perceptions have consequences for perceptions of informal social control within their

community as well as willingness to cooperate with police.

We utilize Blalock’s racial threat hypothesis (1967) as a framework for under-

standing the consequences of misperceived ethnic group size. The racial threat

hypothesis suggests that as the size of a racial and ethnic minority group increases,

those who are a part of the White majority will use their power and privilege to

implement state control over growing minority populations (Stolzenberg, D’Alessio,

& Eitle, 2004). Feldmeyer, Warren, Siennick, and Neptune (2015) argue that this is

typically enacted through the criminal justice system by instituting legal controls and

other measures to protect a dominant status. Blalock (1967) initially focused on the

impact of economic and political threat generated from increasing minority population

size that has led to a focus on macrolevel outcomes such as police and criminal justice

system expenditure, police force size, and police resource allocation in relation to the

relative population size of ethnic minority groups. As such, it is still unclear what

microlevel associations help explain the relationship between relative population size

and the use of formal social control (Dollar, 2014). We specifically seek to understand

if the perception of increasing ethnic minority size is associated with increased

willingness to cooperate with formal authorities such as the police (formal social

control), and whether or not such perceptions influence the public’s ability to inter-

vene in community problems (informal social control).

Although Blalock’s (1967) thesis has been linked to the unique racialized history of

the United States (Kent & Jacobs, 2004), studies outside of the United States have

linked negative perceptions of ethnic and religious minorities to fear of crime, ter-

rorism, and economic hardship (see Wheelock, Semukhina, & Demidov, 2011). By

examining the link between misperceptions of ethnic group size and beliefs about

informal and formal social control outside of the United States, a greater under-

standing of the racial threat perspective and associated social control practices can be

formed. Situating racial threat theory among the emerging dynamics of minority

100 Race and Justice 8(2)