Like index in the title, this abstract deals with my first year master’s research.
In a socio-political context in which Muslims are currently a more or less visible, yet often disadvantaged, stigmatized and discriminated group, this research focuses on the consequences of the discrimination perceived by these population in a situation of hiring. From data obtained through the literature, we have focused on these consequences in terms of subjective well-being, but also in terms of the use of coping strategies. Indeed, research has confirm the negative impact of discrimination on physical and mental well-being for many populations. Moreover, people do not stay passive when they suffer from discrimination, they use coping, i.e., they resort to coping strategies. Given the belief of the studied population, we favoured coping religious theory in our study.
My working hypothesis was the following: people who perceive a hiring discrimination because of their religious affiliation, even more if they wear visible signs of their religious affiliation, have a lower subjective well-being level than those who do not. Further, these people using religious coping in response to this perceive discrimination.
Participants (N = 76) were mostly men and workers. Furthermore, about the data, only 68 subject responses were available about religious coping. We obtained these data from an online survey, combining several tools: « Echelle de Mesure des Manifestations du Bien-Être Psychologique » (Massé and al., 1998), « Brief-RCOPE » (French version of Caporossi, Trouillet & Brouillet, 2012), a measurement of perceived discrimination level (eight items of two different studies) and a measurement of belief and practice level (two items).
The inclusion criteria for participating to the study were to be a Muslim believer and to have pass at least one job interview in France.
The results shows, against our expectations, an equivalent well-being for all the participants. Nevertheless, in agreement with other hypotheses, there is a strong use of religious coping (in particular positive coping) and also a correlation between positive coping and subjective well-being for people feeling discriminated against (r = .55; p < .01).
Results are discussed on the base of the identification-reject model (Branscombe, Schmitt & Harvey, 1999), the discrimination hypothesis (Crocker & Major, 1989) and the stress model of Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Thus, the attribution of a negative outcome, such as having received a letter of rejection/not being hired, to an external cause, such as discrimination, can protect the well-being of individuals (Crocker & Major, 1989), especially in the case where this discrimination concerns the core personality of the individual. Nevertheless, to have a positive effect, group identification must be high (Branscombe, Schmitt & Harvey, 1999). In this perspective, it is known that this population identify themselves very strongly to the religious group, religiosity being a central aspect in their live and in the way they live it (Verkuyten, 2007). However, another explanation for this result is the mediation of positive coping on the discrimination-well-being relationship. Indeed, these strategies allow the individual to control disturbances related to problematic events, such as Muslim hiring discrimination or being denied a job (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).
Yet, this study have some limitations, in particular in terms of methods (I.e., sample and tool that were not adapted, etc.), but it is also of interest. Indeed, in our knowledge, this study is the only that investigated the theoretical background used for Muslim population in France. This study also brings new questionings and study possibilities, especially with positive coping mediation on the relationship between perceived discrimination and subjective well-being.
To conclude, this work emphasizes the necessity to be awareness and to assess the notion of the visibility of belonging to a religious group when we investigate the Muslim population, because visibility plays a significant role on perceived discrimination and group identification.
Morgane Vialla
Hello ! My name is Morgane and I’m 21 years old. Currently, I live in Nantes with my boyfriend but i’m come from Saint-Etienne and Vendée. I am at the University of Nantes since my first year of license. After my graduation, I would like to work in a consultant office but my project could change in the future. I like to travel in foreign countries and I’m a piano addict (I took courses during ten years).