Content area
Full Text
The Outsider: Prejudice and Politics in Italy. By Paul M. Sniderman, Pierangelo Peri, Rui J. P. de Figueiredo, Jr., and Thomas Piazza. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000. 218p. $29.95.
Harlan Koff, Duke University
The Outsider is a study of prejudicial attitudes toward migrants in Italy. The book contributes to the study of public reactions to non-European Union immigration because it statistically analyzes opinions that are usually addressed descriptively. Moreover, the work correctly studies the interaction between individual and social responses to migration. However, the overall contribution of this book to the comparative literature on xenophobia in Europe is limited by serious theoretical and methodological flaws.
The authors of The Outsider begin with two research questions: 1) Does race hold distinctive status in marking others as outsiders? and 2) What is the relationship between the psychological roots of prejudice and group competition for resources? In order to carry out these tasks, a telephone survey, including 4,558 interviews, was conducted to ascertain opinions regarding non-EU nationals as well as the North-South divide, which is a major characteristic of the Italian political culture. This latter aspect of the survey was utilized as a means for comparing group categorization in Italy and formulating a general theory of prejudice.
The authors constructed this survey on the incorrect assumption (which they admit) that race is the fundamental element of prejudice. They expected to find that "All, because they are immigrants, will bear the burden of intolerance, but those who are black, by virtue of being black, must bear a heavier burden still" (p. 15). This notion has been refuted in...