Measuring Minority Integration: Conceptualization and Operationalization Issues

The paper addresses the issue of using opinion surveys to evaluate the relationships among a country's communal groups, specifically, between majorities and minorities. Previous literature happened to use surveys either to measure the "integration of minorities" (https://isd.iss.nl/) or the patriotism level of minorities (e.g. Elkins &Stride 2007, Cebotari 2009). Beyond the usefulness of opinion surveys, there are some questions about which survey items are the best to use. The paper argues for gradually phasing out the "pride" question on behalf of the "attachment" question, and involving items inquiring about the quality of democracy in the respondents’ countries. Based on WVS and ISSP data, the paper shows that the minority-majority gap tends to meaningfully co-vary with the actual empowerment of the minorities in the respective countries. The finding is paralleled with an economy-based variation of democracy assessments, showing that poorer respondents tend to give lower evaluation of democracy than better-off respondents.