Abstract

Using the four waves of the European Values Study (1981, 1990, 1999 en 2009), we analyse how ethnocentrism has developed in Belgium, how it is socially embedded and how it relates to other value orientations. We find ethnocentrism to be more prevalent in Flanders than in Brussels or Wallonia. Ethnocentrism reaches its maximum prevalence in the nineteen nineties after which it decreases again. In line with the literature, ethnocentrism is related to educational attainment, but the relationship is too weak to provide a real explanation. The cultural embeddedness is weak as well and changes over time from an association primarily embedded with a more conservative socio-economic discourse, to a relationship with institutional distrust and cultural conservatism. The findings suggest that ethnocentrism is not clearly socially structured and that it common sociological explanation may no longer be able to explain ethnocentrism.

How to Cite:

Van Rossem, R. & Roose, H., (2017) “Van grote kuis naar open huis?: de evolutie van etnocentrisme in België tussen 1981 en 2009”, Sociologos 38(1-2), 25–48. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/sociologos.86935