Historical-Comparative Analyses of Social Acceptance in the United States, Türkiye, and South Africa

Ismail Hakki Yigit; Karin M. Abel

doi:10.29333/ejecs/2269

Authors

Ismail Hakki Yigit Tennessee State University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4462-7828
Karin M. Abel Tennessee State University https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9475-7349

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejecs/2269

Keywords:

Social Acceptance, Racial/Ethnic Conflict, Income Inequality, world values survey, Gini Score, the United States, Autochthony Beliefs, Refugees, Türkiye, Immigrants, National Belonging, South Africa.

Abstract

Taking a historical-comparative approach, our goal in this paper is to investigate the social acceptance of people in three countries: the United States, Türkiye, and South Africa. More specifically, we are interested in socio-historical developments related to racial/ethnic conflicts and income inequality and their impact on the social acceptance of racially different people, immigrants/foreign workers, and religiously dissimilar individuals. To accomplish our goal, we draw on Contact Theory and use data from the World Values Survey (WVS) and the World Bank. Regarding the former, we include seven survey waves spanning from 1981 to 2022. Our analysis shows that social acceptance varies significantly across the three countries and that the history of racial/ethnic conflict is an important factor in shaping these outcomes. When racial/ethnic conflicts increase, the social acceptance of racially/ethnically different people and immigrants/foreign workers decreases. Also, over the period of interest, the United States displayed the highest overall social acceptance. While racial social acceptance remained relatively stable, the social acceptance of immigrants/foreign workers decreased slightly. Türkiye experienced a decline in social acceptance toward racially/ethnically different people and immigrants/foreign workers. South Africa exhibited an uptick in racial social acceptance but a meaningful drop in the social acceptance of immigrants/foreign workers. As for the relationship between income inequality and social acceptance, the results are mixed. On the whole, this relationship seems to be rather weak.

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Author Biographies

Ismail Hakki Yigit, Tennessee State University

Dr. Ismail H. Yigit is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Tennessee State University. His research broadly examines health outcomes of social inequalities; stratification; and ethnic, religious, and racial minorities.

Karin M. Abel, Tennessee State University

Dr. Karin M. Abel is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Tennessee State University. Her research interests are varied and include these areas: social policy and welfare state institutions, historical-comparative sociology, political sociology, and the sociology of health and medicine. She also enjoys teaching and working with students, especially helping them to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to reach their goals.

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