How welcome do Iranian-Americans feel in their homeland? Perceptions of social distance among Muslim, Jewish, and Non-Religious Iranian-American adults

Shari Paige, Elaine Hatfield, Lu Liang

Recent political events in the United States have created a political climate that promotes prejudice against Middle Eastern, Iranian, and Muslim people. In this study, we were interested in investigating two questions: (1) How welcome do Iranian-American men and women from various religious backgrounds (Muslim, Jewish, or no religious affiliation) feel in their new homeland (specifically, how much social distance (affective distance) do they think their Euro-American neighbors feel toward them? and (2) to what extent does the possession of stereotypical Middle Eastern, Iranian, or Muslim traits (an accent, darker skin, wearing of religious symbols, traditional garb, etc.) spark prejudice and thus Iranian-Americans perception of social distance? Participants were recruited from two very different sources: (1) shoppers at grocery stores in Iranian-American neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and (2) a survey posted on http://Surveymonkey.com. A total of 374 Iranian-Americans, ages 18 and older, completed an in-person or online questionnaire that included the following: a request for demographic information, religious preferences, a survey of how typically Iranian-American the respondents' traits were, and the social distance scale. A surprise was that it was the Iranian-American Jews (not the Muslims), who felt most keenly that Euro-Americans kept them at a distance. Jewish women received higher scores on the social distance scale than did members of any other group. In addition, again, it was mainly Iranian-American Jews, particularly those who spoke with a Middle Eastern accent or wore stereotypically religious symbols, who felt the most social distance existing between them and "typical" Americans.