Demobilizing or Activating? The Effect of Anti-Muslim Discrimination on Muslims’ Counter-Extremism Engagement

Abstract

Abstract Scholars have reported mixed findings on the effect of discrimination on political and social behavior. In some cases, experiences of discrimination reduce mainstream political and social engagement; in other cases, the opposite seems to be true. The indeterminate outcome of discrimination has important bearing on counter-extremism policies in the West. These policies aim at galvanizing Muslim communities’ engagement in countering extremism, but they do so in the context of heightened levels of anti-Muslim discrimination. This article investigates the effect of anti-Muslim discrimination on the willingness of Muslims to take action against Islamist extremism. I analyze data from unique large-N nationally representative surveys of British Muslims, using both cross-sectional and experimental designs. Neither analysis found support for the hypothesis that anti-Muslim discrimination reduces the willingness of Muslims to engage in counter-extremism. Furthermore, the investigated relationship appears to be curvilinear, where few experiences with anti-Muslim discrimination increase the likelihood of Muslims’ engagement in counter-extremism in comparison to those who did not have such experiences and those who encountered discrimination more frequently. If confirmed by further research, this finding can potentially help to reconcile the mixed results in the literature.