Prejudice and minority proportion: Contact instead of threat effects

Wagner U, Christ O, Pettigrew TF, Stellmacher J, Wolf C. Prejudice and minority proportion: Contact instead of threat effects. Social Psychology Quarterly. 2006;69(4):380-390.Research on the relationship between the percentage of an ethnic minority population in a geographically defined area and majority members’ prejudice typically reveals a positive covariation. This result supports threat theory. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated significant exceptions. Based on intergroup contact theory, the present study demonstrates with a German probability sample that an increase in the percentage of ethnic minority members affords the majority greater opportunity for intergroup contact and thus reduces the majority’s prejudice. These results also falsify frequent political claims that an increase in the minority population above a particular threshold necessarily worsens intergroup relations. The data are discussed in the context of the divergence of our results from those of other studies. Whether threat or contact effects occur may depend on an array of moderators that require further testing

Criminal Threat, Immigrant/Minority Threat, and Political Ideology: An Examination of Handgun Permits Across Texas Counties

Objectives: To assess the extent to which crime, Hispanic-to-white population changes, black-to-white population changes, and conservative political appeals affect gun permit application rates across Texas counties. Methods: This article uses spatial lag regression and robust regression with county-level data to assess structural sources of variation in handgun permitting across Texas counties in 2016. Conclusions: Spatial and robust regression model results confirm that median incomes, Republican votes, and rising rates of Hispanic-to-white populations are significant predictors of handgun permit application rates. The results call attention to the centrality of Hispanic threat and the prevalence of partisan politics in aggregate permit-seeking processes