Her response did not make her win the Miss Universe title, but it won the hearts of many Filipinos. This was a clear indication of a strong religious identification and avoidance of religious out-group. In the Philippines, does this religious identification manifest in the social interaction with religious out-groups? Does it shape attitude and intention (i.e. contact avoidance) among university students who are often the most vocal sector of society? Despite increased interconnectedness through social media and global events, people are still being excluded not because of what they do, but mainly because of who they are, based on religion and ethnicity.
The Philippines is composed of diverse population groups. Several authors categorize it into Christian north and Muslim south. Behind this religious divide are ethnic groups, which are commonly identified as either Christians or Muslims. Thus, in-group and out-group can fairly be distinguished.
For decades, conflicts have been going on in southern Philippines. The conflict has conventionally been viewed “within the framework of historic ethno-religious conflict” because the groups involved are divided along ethno-religious lines.
This study looks at latent aspects of conflict through strained relations between ethno-religious groups in Metro Manila and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and adjacent areas.
Relations between these groups are historically characterized by majority-minority positions, hierarchy, competition and rivalry. Data collection through surveys and interviews in these areas was conducted in 2011-2012.
The aim of this study is to answer the following central questions.
1. To what extent is there a relationship between ethno-religious identification and contact avoidance? The hypothesis here is that the stronger identification, the higher level of contact avoidance.
2. To what extent can we explain the relationship between ethno-religious identification and contact avoidance by intermediate determinants? The general hypothesis here is that the relationship will be diminished because of the mediating effects of the intermediate factors.
To guide the process of finding empirical answers to these questions, this study set out to build on previously developed and well-established theoretical insights on intergroup relations.
As a dimension of ethnic exclusionism, intergroup contact avoidance could be explained by the general propositions of several theories. Realistic conflict theory posits that intergroup competition in a social conflict facilitates in-group cohesion and out-group hostility. Social identity theory involves the social processes of categorization, identification and comparison which induce in-group favoritism through social identification and out-group antagonism through social contra-identification. The complementarity of these two theories is summarized in the proposition of ethnic group conflict theory which states that intergroup competition at individual and contextual levels, mediated by perceived group threat, will reinforce in-group favoritism and out-group antagonism. The eventual outcome of which is ethnic exclusionism.
There are other theories that could well provide explanations. The inclusion of an indigenous concept called pakikiramdam (heightened awareness of self, others and situation) is a recognition of the cultural context of the research setting.
To measure intergroup contact avoidance, we ask, “To what extent would you accept or avoid having a Christian/Muslim” classmate, friend, boardmate, neighbor, civil servant, police, and mayor. In the Mokken scale analysis, both Christians and Muslims have an almost similar pattern for the seven contact roles.
They have the private domain, classmate and friend, with the most acceptance, while the public domain, police and mayor have the most avoidance. The contact role, neighbor, seems to mark the boundary between private and public. Moreover, both Christians and Muslims tend to avoid placing public contact roles, bequeathed with power, in the hands of out-groups, while they are less likely to do so with the private contact roles.
To measure ethno-religious identification, we treat identity as not merely a self-affiliation and knowledge of one’s in-group, rather, it undergoes a process in which individual actions and choices are crucial elements of the process. According to Phinney and Ong (2007, pp.272-273), the process of identification has several dimensions, such as exploration,, behaviors, commitment and attachment, relationship between ethnic identity and national identity, among others.
Who are then the people who tend to avoid contact towards out-groups? In our findings, they are those Christians and Muslims who have more religious in-group friends, greater perceived group threat, social dominance orientation, out-group religiocentrism and distrust, and fundamentalist attitudes. They are also members of religious organizations and they participate in religious practices.
Using regression analyses to test our hypotheses, the study shows the effects on contact avoidance by ethno-religious identification variables such as participation in rites of passage, number of ethnic in-group friends, and number of instances where ethnic language is used. The observed effects support the first hypothesis that the stronger the ethno-religious identification, the more contact avoidance towards the out-group. Explaining further the significant relationship between ethno-religious identification and contact avoidance, the intermediate determinants which decrease the observed effects of ethno-religious identification variables on contact avoidance are perceived group threat, out-group distrust, fundamentalism, and quantity of contact. As expected, the significant effects on contact avoidance of perceived group threat, out-group distrust, and fundamentalism, are positive, whereas the significant effect of quantity of contact is negative. Inclusion of these intermediate determinants in the model reduces most significant differences between ethno-elrigious groups. This is an evidence for the mediating function of these determinants.
The interviews provide additional data and explanations on contact avoidance. Both Christians and Muslims report incidents of everyday contact avoidance as peers and barangay-mates.
Additional expressions of religious identification are from Muslim informants who find eating halal food and wearing hijab as their expressions of being Muslims in a predominantly Christian country. One dimension which is not measured by the survey is the relationship of sub-national (ethnic) identity with national identity. While Christian ethnic groups generally identify with the national identity as Filipinos, the Muslim ethnic groups voice out some issues with being Filipinos as a legacy of oppressive colonial history.
The additional explanations are found in the three contextual factors, namely education, mass media and history of conflict. For example, the school environment has considerable impact on intergroup relations. The more mixed the composition of the student population, the more possibilities for intergroup contacts and friendships there are, and less likely there will be intergroup contact avoidance.
In closing, it is confirmed, as predicted by ethnic group conflict theory, that perceived group threat is a strong and significant predictor of exclusionary attitude, i.e. contact avoidance. Also it is confirmed that out-group distrust, a by-product of social contra-identification explained in social identity theory and ethnic group conflict theory, induces ethnic exclusionism. The finding on the quantity of contacts supports the position of intergroup contact theory, which posits that contacts reduce the likelihood of exclusionary attitudes towards out-groups.
In light of the findings and data available for further research on intergroup relations, the potency of contributing not just to the understanding of conflicts, but also to peacebuilding efforts in conflict areas, specifically in Mindanao, is very encouraging.
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