Language Heightens the Political Salience of Ethnic Divisions. Issue 2 (27th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pérez, Efrén O.; Tavits, Margit
• Is Part Of: Journal of experimental political science. Volume 6:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 131
• Page End: 140
• Publication Date: 2018-11-27
• Subjects: language and political cognition, -- ethnic divisions, -- belief-sampling, -- mental accessibility; Political science -- Periodicals; Political science -- Research -- Periodicals; Political science -- Methodology -- Periodicals; 320.0724
• DOI: 10.1017/XPS.2018.27
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2052-2630

Abstract

Abstract: What makes people take ethnic divisions into account when judging politics? We consider here the possible effect of language. We hypothesize that speaking a minority tongue primes ethnic divisions, leading people to interpret politics more heavily through this prism. In two survey experiments with bilingual adults, we demonstrate that subjects assigned to interview in a minority language are indeed more likely to evaluate politics based on ethnic considerations: they rank ethnic relations as a more important political issue and they are more likely to correctly identify the anti-minority party in their political system. These results suggest that people may think about politics differently depending on the language they use.