Belgian Laïcité: Associations With Racism, Sexism, and Strategic Endorsement in the Face of Islam

Laïcité, a version of secularism typically encountered in France, is at the heart of a heated debate, notably because it is frequently invoked as a reason for public measures against the headscarf. Research conducted in France has suggested that two conceptions of laïcité coexist, a historical version and a more recent one limiting the expression of religious symbols (e.g., headscarf) in the public space. In Belgium, such debates about Islam and laïcité also came to the fore in recent years. However, no empirical work has examined the different conceptions of laïcité in Belgium nor their link with attitudes towards Islam, racism, and sexism. In Study 1 (N = 321), we relied on Confirmatory Factor Analysis and found that laïcité comprises three separate dimensions (historic, anti-funding and anti-public expressions of religious symbols laïcités), each having distinct links with intergroup attitudes of racism, sexism, and anti-Islam attitudes. In Study 2 (N = 191), we used an experimental design and made either Islam or Catholicism salient. As expected, antiegalitarian participants increased their levels of endorsement of “anti-public expression of religious symbols” in the Islam condition, compared to the Catholic one. In line with Study 1's findings, this interaction was not present for anti-funding laïcité. These results suggest the presence of distinct forms of laïcité in Belgium while showing the existence of a strategic malleability of this concept in Belgium. Findings such as these further our understanding of the dynamics at work in the debates around the headscarf, the financing of cults, laïcité in Belgium, and implications for societal cohesion.