Sources of prejudice among police cadets toward foreigners: A test of intergroup threat theory

Abstract

Literature in policing has mostly overlooked the antecedents of prejudice, especially those who choose a police career. Such a choice is important given the results of prejudice that might cause police misconduct toward regular migrants, irregular migrants, and refugees. This study aims to examine the factors that explain prejudice among police cadets toward other ethnic groups. This study’s data come from a survey of 725 police cadets in three police vocational schools in Turkey. We employed structural equation modeling to examine the antecedents of prejudice toward foreigners within the framework of intergroup threat theory. More specifically, in this study, we included factors such as anomie, authoritarianism, and nationalism and participants’ symbolic and realistic threat perceptions in shaping prejudice toward foreigners. The findings suggest that police cadets’ realistic threat perception was the most salient antecedent of prejudice toward foreigners.