2020 · PS: Political Science and Politics
Stigma Consciousness and American Identity: The Case of Muslims in the United States
What does it feel like to love a country that suspects you? This piece explores how Muslim Americans' awareness of being stereotyped shapes their sense of American identity.
Government policies that profile Muslims, anti-Muslim public sentiment, and hate crimes have become a salient part of the Muslim experience in the United States. In this study, I bring the concept of stigma consciousness—the explicit awareness of being targeted for an identity that is devalued—to the question of how Muslims reconcile that racialization. Drawing on a 2010 survey of Muslims in southeast Michigan, I find that experiences of discrimination are a significant predictor of higher stigma consciousness, that Muslim women who wear the hijab have higher levels of stigma consciousness, and that Muslims with high levels of stigma consciousness are less likely to adopt an American identity.