The explanatory role of religious identity, practices and beliefs in perceived discrimination among Muslim American racial/ethnic groups

Purpose

The study examines the effects of religious identity, practices and beliefs on Muslim Americans' perceptions of discrimination and the extent to which religion might shape the perception of discrimination differently within Muslim race/ethnic groups.

Design/methodology/approach

Study data were obtained from the 2011 Pew Survey (N = 1,033), a nationally representative sample of Muslim adults 18 years old and older living in the United States. The sample weights with the exclusion of non-response cases were used for bivariate analyses. For multivariate analyses, multiple imputation procedures were employed to impute missing values on all variables.

Findings

Muslim Americans with high levels of religious practices are more likely and Muslim Americans with strong belief in religious tenets are less likely to report experiencing different forms of discrimination. Black, Asian and other/mixed race Muslims with high levels of religious practices report higher rates of discrimination than their white coreligionists. Within group comparison shows that the pure extrinsic group reports higher rates of perceived discrimination than the pro-religious, pure intrinsic and non-religious groups.

Originality/value

The study emphasizes varying effects of religious factors on different Muslim American groups in perceived discrimination and suggests researchers challenge a common perception of viewing religion as a “master status” for the Muslim identity.