From one closed door to another: Cumulative discrimination and prejudice against marginalised groups in Europe

The main contribution of EqualStrength is to investigate cumulative and structural forms of discrimination, outgroup prejudice and hate crimes against ethnic, racial and religious minorities from a cross-setting and intersectional perspective.

We deploy innovative, targetted and effective methods, which include field experiments, population-level secondary survey data, meso-level policy analysis and targeted data collection to include the perspective of minority groups who directly confront discrimination.

Our approach allows us to meet five interrelated research objectives: First, we reveal structural and cumulative forms of ethnic and racial discrimination in Europe, focusing on the experience of Muslim, Roma and Black minorities.

Second, we assess the systemic nature of prejudice across life domains, targetting anti-Muslim, anti-Black and anti-Roma attitudes. Third, we analyse policy and institutional factors that contribute to structural discrimination and prejudices. Fourth, we document the lived experiences and coping strategies adopted to confront everyday discrimination.

And finally, we highlight the intersection of race, ethnicity and religion with other dimensions of inequality such as gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic position.

In meeting these objectives, we promise three key contributions: First, we shift the paradigm, moving from a focus on individuals at risk to a family perspective.

Second, we reveal cumulative, structural and intersectional disadvantage, pushing beyond setting-specific and single-group discrimination.

Third, we provide a multi-actor and multi-level perspective that simultaneously considers multiple actors (i.e. gatekeepers; ethnic, racial and religious minorities; majority groups) and levels of analysis (i.e. the micro-level of individual decisions; the meso-level of organisations, neighbourhoods, rental agencies and childcare facilities; the macro-level of countries and nation-wide institutions).