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Ethnic Hostility among Ethnic Majority and Minority Groups

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local living environments (on ethnic hostility) based on estimated variance components in multilevel<br />

models for two reasons. First, the relevant local context is not only theoretically hard to identify<br />

but also methodologically diffi cult to operationalise, <strong>and</strong> second, the reliability of the measured<br />

contextual characteristics is very likely to be lower than that of individual-level characteristics.<br />

Although my results indicate that the native Dutch are more hostile towards specifi c<br />

ethnic minority groups (cf. Hagendoorn, 1995; Hagendoorn & Pepels, 2003), I did not fi nd any<br />

discrepancy in the proposed explanatory models for hostility <strong>among</strong> native Dutch directed at<br />

different ethnic groups. The application of the multi-ethnic group perspective also revealed<br />

that ethnic hostility <strong>and</strong> other indicators of social cohesion are differently distributed across<br />

ethnic groups. But once again I could not explain why this was the case. The multi-ethnic group<br />

perspective did not offer more answers but did raise more questions, <strong>and</strong> as such was also valuable<br />

in terms of increasing our (future) underst<strong>and</strong>ing of ethnic hostility.<br />

The theoretical implications of the fi ndings of Part 1 with respect to <strong>Ethnic</strong> Competition<br />

Theory <strong>and</strong> Contact Theory are discussed in section 8.3.<br />

8.2 QUESTIONS, RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS OF PART 2<br />

8. Conclusion | Questions, results <strong>and</strong> conclusions of Part 2<br />

8.2.1 Trends in <strong>Ethnic</strong> Educational Inequality<br />

Research questions of Chapter 5<br />

Educational attainment is an important determinant for economic self-suffi ciency, social class<br />

<strong>and</strong> life-long earnings. The educational integration of ethnic minority groups is therefore a good<br />

indicator of the level of structural integration of these ethnic groups. This book’s core focus lies on<br />

the explanation of ethnic hostility. <strong>Ethnic</strong> hostility <strong>among</strong> ethnic minorities, which I regarded as an<br />

important aspect of their cultural integration, was the subject of Chapter 7. But by fi rst addressing<br />

my attention to the trends in, <strong>and</strong> explanations for, the educational integration of minorities,<br />

I offered a more complete picture of the integration of ethnic minorities in the Netherl<strong>and</strong>s.<br />

Moreover, the results of both Chapters 5 <strong>and</strong> 6 served as a foundation for the argumentation laid<br />

out in Chapter 7.<br />

Although previous research on ethnic stratifi cation patterns in the Dutch educational<br />

system reveals that the educational distribution of minority groups do not resemble that of the<br />

native Dutch, up to now the precise extent of ethnic inequality in educational opportunities <strong>and</strong><br />

how these have changed over successive birth cohorts had remained unclear. The question I set<br />

out to answer in Chapter 5 was:<br />

What are the birth cohort trends across ethnic groups in fi nal educational attainment <strong>and</strong> school<br />

transition decisions, <strong>and</strong> to what extent does social background explain these differences?<br />

According to the modernisation proposition, in modern societies the economies <strong>and</strong> concomitant<br />

occupational structures dictate selection processes based on achieved characteristics of individuals<br />

(Blau & Duncan, 1967). In Western modern societies, selection criteria not based on achieved<br />

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