Attributional processes and perceived discrimination: Experimental evidence from West Africans in Germany

Emerging evidence suggests the existence of the so-called integration paradox: socially integrated and economically advantaged immigrants report higher levels of discrimination than those that are more marginalized. While this could be explained via the former having more contact with natives and thus more negative encounters, another potential explanation operates via attributional processes if immigrants with higher socio-economic attainment and social integration are more likely to interpret events through the lens of discrimination. An important limitation of prior research to test this attributional mechanism is that the literature is mostly based on survey data where respondents are asked how often they felt discriminated against in the past year. Without an ability to keep the event and the characteristics of the migrant constant, the attributional processes that may be at play remain poorly understood. In this paper, I use experimental methods to overcome these shortcomings. A representative sample of West Africans in Germany evaluated vignettes of a hypothetical migrant, randomly varied by gender, migration status, religion, skin color, and socio-economic origin. Respondents judged whether discrimination was at play in two ambiguous scenarios in the labor and housing markets. Results show little systematic attention to individual attributes. In hiring, respondents were somewhat more likely to see discrimination when the vignette migrant was female or Muslim, but not when they were Black. In housing, attributes did not matter. Turning to integration trajectories, I find no evidence for an integration paradox. Immigrants with higher socio-economic status were no more likely to perceive discrimination, and those more socially integrated were less likely to do so. I interpret the lack of recognition of the markers of disadvantage that make discrimination more likely (being black or Muslim) and the lack of an “integration paradox” as potentially explained via theories of self-protection –immigrants lower their perceived discrimination as a self-protection mechanism to facilitate integration – or self-selection – those perceiving less discrimination self-select into better German skills and engaging in closer contact with natives.