Migrants' Integration in Western Europe: Bridging Social Psychology and Political Science

This article presents the possibilities and advantages of integrating social psychology and political science in the study of intergroup relations in diverse societies in Western Europe. Social psychology provides interesting insights in understanding the emotional and cognitive consequences of increased diversity. However, this literature tends to overlook the role of institutional discourses and correlated practices in stimulating or constraining positive intergroup relations. In order to fill these lacunae, the article suggests the integration of social psychology and a ‘political opportunity structure’ approach. This article maintains that the political opportunity structures operating in a context are not only important for understanding actors' mobilisation, as usually maintained in the literature, but also for studying the extent to which change at the micro‐level of social interaction can be stimulated or constrained. We illustrate the arguments of the article with an analysis of the narrative constructions and the correlated practices of integration as adopted by the city councils of Malmö and Bologna. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interethnic relations in Malaysia: Group identifications,indispensability and inclusive nationhood

This paper focuses on interethnic relations in Malaysia and examines survey data collected among Malay (n = 405), Chinese (n = 90), and Indian (n = 53) participants. In agreement with the Common In‐group Identity Model, inclusive nationhood was related to more positive out‐group attitudes. Relative in‐group indispensability was related to higher bias as predicted by the In‐group Projection Model. Furthermore, the dominant group of Malay had higher in‐group indispensability, more strongly endorsed an inclusive national representation, had stronger ethnic and national identification, and a stronger association between both identifications.     

Early pathways to bullying: A prospective longitudinal study examining the influences of theory of mind and social preference on bullying behaviour during the first 3 years of school

Research has focused on the role of theory of mind (ToM) for positive social behaviour, while the association between ToM and negative social behaviours is less well understood. This longitudinal study compares two mediation models examining the role of ToM and peer-rated social preference at ages 5 and 6 for bullying at age 7. Participants were 114 children (58 boys, M_age = 67 months) at entry to primary school (T1). At Time 2 (T2), 106 children and, at Time 3 (T3), 96 children remained. Teacher-rated externalizing problems and children’s language ability were controlled at T1. Poor ToM was found to indirectly predict later bullying via poor social preference, while for boys only, greater earlier ToM directly predicted greater bullying 2 years later. These results suggest that there are different pathways to bullying via ToM and social preference , which has implications for interventions to prevent the development of bullying behaviour.     

The Question of Salvation of Non‐Muslims: The Exegesis of Muhammad Asad

This article applies Alan Race's typology of Christian thought in relation to the salvation of non‐Christians to that of the Islamic tradition and uses the exegesis of Muhammad Asad as an example. It argues that Asad's exegesis of the relevant qur'anic verses places him firmly into the pluralist camp as defined by Race.     

Agency,Identity and Ecumenicalism in the American Missionary Schools of Tripoli,Lebanon

ABSTRACT

When the American Protestant Mission in Syria entered the educational arena of nineteenth-century Tripoli, its administrators founded long-lasting educational institutions primarily for the purpose of converting souls to Protestant Christianity. Secondarily, missionaries sought to impose ideas of gender and class on their students. Through previously unexamined memoirs, school records, and missionary writings, this article offers a microhistorical analysis of the Tripoli Girls' School (est. 1873) and the Tripoli Boys' Boarding School (est. 1904). This study begins by situating the schools within the broader context of an increasingly peripheralized and predominantly Sunni Muslim city, showing that the geographical, social, and educational environment of Tripoli shaped and was shaped by the boarding schools. It explores two trends within the Tripoli schools, namely, the ‘professionalization’ of female students, and the reification of class divisions, as Tripoli was integrated into a system of global capitalism. Finally, it moves beyond narratives of ‘secularization’ and argues that students played a significant role in shifting the emphasis of missionary education away from religious conversion to an educational model of interreligious cooperation that saw Muslims and Christians as partners in a syncretic endeavour.