Home > Archive > Volume 67, No. 1 > This paper
Critiquing the Default Hypothesis: The Importance of Group Identity
Curtis Dunkel
Published: 2026/06/01
Abstract
The hypothesis that group identity is important in predicting Jewish positive ethnocentrism was tested using survey data from the United States. While intermarriage also predicted positive ethnocentrism, a relative weight analysis showed that the effect of group identity was much stronger. A model in which group identity mediated the relationship between antisemitism threat and positive ethnocentrism was also supported, although the direct effect of antisemitism threat remained significant. Political orientation was also examined with group identity and positive ethnocentrism being associated with conservativism and antisemitism threat and intermarriage associated with liberalism. The results are discussed in relation to the Default and Group Evolutionary Strategy hypotheses.
Download PDF