Behind the ethnic–civic distinction: Public attitudes towards immigrants’ political rights in the Netherlands

• Two survey studies among native Dutch showed that the endorsement of ethnic citizenship is related to lower acceptance of Muslim immigrant rights (Study 1) and their political participation (Study 2).
• These relations are due to a weaker normative sense of common national belonging and higher adherence to autochthony (primo-occupancy) beliefs.
• In contrast, the endorsement of civic citizenship was associated with higher acceptance of Muslim immigrant rights and their political participation.
• These relations were due to a stronger sense of common belonging and lower belief in autochthony.
• These findings shed light on the normative beliefs that mediate the relation between national membership criteria and the acceptance of immigrants’ rights and their political participation.

Public opinion research has sought to distinguish between ethnic and civic conceptions of citizenship and examined the differential associations of these conceptions with policy preferences in the realm of immigration. What has not been examined empirically is why exactly these conceptions are related to people’s preferences. In two survey studies conducted among national samples of native Dutch we tested the proposition that the endorsement of ethnic citizenship is related to lower acceptance of Muslim immigrant rights (Study 1) and their political participation (Study 2) because of a weaker normative sense of common national belonging and higher adherence to autochthony (primo-occupancy) beliefs. In contrast, the endorsement of civic citizenship was expected to be associated with higher acceptance of Muslim immigrant rights and their political participation because of a stronger sense of common belonging and lower belief in autochthony. The findings of the two studies are similar and in support of these expectations.