Thursday, March 01, 2007

Measuring Bigotry

from The University of Ulster Report

"The value of the bigotry gap ratio – the mean, percentage amount by which the
bigotry scores of all the persons was above the bigotry line (z=1) – was also highest
for Greece (51 percent) and Northern Ireland (50 percent): not only did these
countries have a high proportion of bigoted persons, bigots in these countries were, on
average, more bigoted than in other countries. By contrast, the values of the bigotry gap
ratios for Sweden and Iceland were only 9 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

When inequality in bigotry scores (the S-values) between bigoted persons was taken into account, the value of the equity-sensitive measure for Germany rose sharply from its bigotry gap ratio value (from 23 to 84). This implies a high degree of inequality in bigotry scores among bigoted Germans with a high GB value causing a large gap between the Q and the J values. Under an equity-sensitive measure of bigotry, Germany joined Greece and Northern Ireland as the most bigoted of Western countries."

Or, actually, you might want to read the summary: Northern Ireland Heads Bigotry Index

"The study also explored who among the various countries’ populations were most likely to be bigots. It found:

· Women are less likely to be bigoted than men.
· The young (15-29 years) and middle-aged (30-49) were less likely to be bigoted than those aged over 50.
· People who were unhappy were more likely to be bigoted than those who were not unhappy.
· Some evidence that financial dissatisfaction might also be a source of bigotry.
· Right wingers, especially those who felt their government’s priority should be ‘maintaining order in the nation’, were more likely to be bigots than those whose politics were middle-of-the-road or left-wing.
· Students were less likely to be bigots than non-students.
· Those in socio-economic classes A-B (upper and upper-middle class); C1 (middle class, non-manual) and C2 (middle, manual) were less likely to be bigoted than those in D-E (unskilled manual)."

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