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This study investigated understandings of national group belonging in relation to attitudes toward foreign and established outgroups in Mauritius. Representative data were collected among the three numerically largest ethno-cultural groups (Hindus, Muslims, and Creoles; N total = 1770) and results confirmed a distinction between "being," "doing," and "feeling" Mauritian among all three groups, with some small differences for Creoles compared to Hindus and Muslims. Furthermore, "being" Mauritian was not significantly related to attitudes toward established and foreign outgroups. In contrast, the "doing" understanding was negatively associated with both attitudes, and the "feeling" understanding showed positive associations with both outgroup attitudes among all three participant groups. The findings make a novel contribution to the literature on how people understand national identity, how these understandings differ between ethno-cultural groups within a nation, and how these relate to attitudes toward foreign as well as established outgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Social psychological research on multiculturalism has mostly looked at recognition of differences and much less at equitable participation. The present study investigated adolescents’ fairness judgements of three democratic decision-making procedures (representative democracy, equal group representation, and proportional group representation) and one nondemocratic procedure (cultural group oligarchy) among Hindu (N =844), Muslim (N =630) and Creole (N =310) adolescents in Mauritius. We examined these judgements in two different contexts (i.e. school and national), and in relation to ethnic group identification, age and gender. Results show that representative democracy was viewed as the fairest decision-making procedure and cultural group oligarchy as the most unfair one. The group representation procedures were judged as relatively unfair although there were significant differences by ethnic group, age and gender. Strength of ethnic identification was linked to higher fairness ratings of democratic group representation procedures. The results are discussed in terms of morality, group positions and ideological representations of the Mauritian nation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: We investigated adolescents' understandings of national group membership in multicultural Mauritius. We hypothesized that tolerance toward different cultures would be an important criterion for being Mauritian. In addition, national identity was expected to be defined in terms of "being," "feeling," and "doing." The type of definition, and whether stopping being Mauritian is perceived as possible, was expected to depend on age and national identification. Possible differences by cultural group membership were explored.Method: The sample consisted of 2,190 adolescents of predominantly the three main cultural groups in Mauritius (Hindus, Muslims, and Creoles; Mage = 14.8 years, SDage = 1.7; 53% girls, 47% boys). Multiple correspondence and regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.Results: The most important criterion mentioned for being Mauritian was respecting cultural diversity. Further, the criteria for national belonging could be clustered into being, feeling, and doing Mauritian. Older adolescents and higher national identifiers defined national belonging more in terms of feeling and less in terms of being than younger adolescents and lower national identifiers. In addition, they considered national identity to be less changeable. There were no clear differences between the three cultural groups.Conclusions: This study reveals the central importance of mutual respect and tolerance as the defining criterion for being Mauritian. Moreover, the feeling, being, and doing clusters of criteria provide a theoretically interesting distinction for understanding national belonging. It is recommended to test their possible correlates further and to use adult samples as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]