Consequences of Religious and Secular Boundaries Among the Majority Population for Perceived Discrimination of Muslim Minorities in Western Europe

While the concept of symbolic boundaries and ethnic boundary-making is well established in social research, the direct consequences of these boundaries for the integration of migrants or minorities have not received much attention. This paper thus analyses whether religious and secular boundaries of national belonging among the majority population have an impact on perceived discrimination of Muslim minorities in Western Europe. To analyse this linkage, data from the International Social Survey Programme measuring the importance of religion as a symbolic boundary of national belonging among the majority have been aggregated as a context condition at the regional level and combined with a Muslim minority subsample from the European Social Survey. The results of the multilevel models reveal that the salience of religious boundaries is associated with less perceived discrimination among Muslim minorities, while secular orientations of the majority population seem to be more decisive for subjective perceptions of feeling discriminated against on religious grounds. Overall, the results thus challenge the role of religion as an ethno-religious demarcation of national belonging and foster the idea of interreligious tolerance and support. However, further research is necessary to assess the meaning and relevance of secular boundaries of belonging for immigrant integration in more detail.