1 Testing the Multiculturalism Hypothesis: Perceived Threat and Cultural Ideologies as Predictors of Attitudes toward Ethnic Out-groups in a Plural Society Colleen Ward, Malia Tatafu, Adrienne Girling and Jessie Wilson Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research Victoria University of Wellington At the core of Berry’s multiculturalism hypothesis is the notion that confidence and security, including economic and cultural security, lead to greater acceptance and intergroup respect (Berry, Kalin, & Taylor, 1977). Acceptance in these terms generally includes endorsement of cultural ideologies that reflect valuing of diversity and equity across ethno-cultural groups, as well as decrements in prejudice and discrimination. Conversely, perceived threat to identity or “place” in society results in hostility towards and rejection of threatening out-groups. While there is an abundance of research that examines the positive and negative impacts of security and threat on intercultural perceptions and relations, there are limited studies undertaken from the perspective of non-dominant groups. The Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) Project aims to address this gap by investigating multiple perspectives across a range of ethnic groups to gain a more comprehensive understanding of intercultural relations in culturally plural societies. Based in New Zealand, this study examines attitudes held by a nondominant immigrant group (Tongans) toward the country’s two charter groups: New Zealand Europeans (Palagi) and Maori, the indigenous peoples. Relations between Maori and their British colonizers have a chequered history of war, peace, cultural assimilation and renaissance, and although the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi laid the groundwork for a bicultural partnership between these two groups, the symbolic status and recognition accorded to Maori have not effectively addressed their social and economic disadvantage. Nevertheless, newer immigrant groups sometimes fail to understand not only the position of Maori as the country’s indigenous peoples, but also the meaning and significance 2 of the country’s bicultural foundation; consequently, they may feel that their place in the evolving multicultural nation is ill-defined and insecure. Against this social, historical and political background we examine threat and cultural ideologies as predictors of attitudes toward ethnic out-groups. We focus on the attitudes towards Maori and New Zealand Europeans (Palagi) as held by Tongans, a group of Pacific Island immigrants who compose less than 2% of the New Zealand population. More specifically, we investigated out-group target (Maori/Palagi), threat and cultural ideologies (bicultural and multicultural) as predictors of out-group attitudes. Drawing on theory and research relative deprivation and testing the multiculturalism hypothesis, we hypothesized that: 1) attitudes toward Palagi, the more powerful, advantaged ethnic group, would be more negative than attitudes toward Maori; 2) threat would negatively predict out-group attitudes; and 3) bicultural and multicultural ideologies would positively predict out-group attitudes. We also expected that these main effects would be qualified by significant interactions so that: 1) bicultural ideology would buffer the negative effects of threat on attitudes toward Maori, but not Palagi. Finally, we posed a research question: Does the influence of multicultural ideology on attitudes toward ethnic out-groups vary as a function of target or target by threat interactions? Two hundred and twenty-four New Zealand Tongans completed a survey that assessed bicultural and multicultural ideologies, threat and out-group attitudes towards either Maori or Palagi. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to predict out-group attitudes with separate equations for bicultural and multicultural ideologies. The analyses revealed that there were no significant differences in attitudes toward Maori and Palagi; however, there was a significant interaction between threat and target, which demonstrated that the negative relationship between threat and out-group attitudes was stronger for Maori than Palagi targets. Furthermore, there was a significant 3-way interaction that indicated that bicultural ideology was associated with more positive attitudes toward Maori and was unrelated to attitudes toward Palagi, but only under conditions of high perceived threat. Finally, multicultural ideology predicted positive attitudes toward ethnic out-groups; however, an interaction effect indicated that this trend was limited to attitudes toward Palagi. 3 The findings are generally in line with the multicultural hypothesis and demonstrate that cultural ideologies affect attitudes toward out-groups and can buffer the negative effects of threat. However, in the New Zealand context, the type of cultural ideologies, whether bicultural or multicultural, can have groupspecific effects. The findings are interpreted in relation to Berry’s (2013) theorizing on acculturation and intercultural relations, and their extension and relevance to the international context are considered. References: Berry, J. W. (2013). Research on multiculturalism in Canada. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37, 663-675. Berry, J. W., Kalin, R., & Taylor, D. (1977). Multiculturalism and ethnic attitudes in Canada. Ottawa: Ministry of Supply and Services.