Abstract
This article examines the determinants of tolerance attitudes of the Japanese people toward Muslims, within the context of “Non-Muslim Studies,” through statistical analysis. Attitudes were investigated by a questionnaire, in 232 university students. The questionnaire contained questions to measure images, perceived threat, sex, and contact experience. Additionally, in terms of discussions of “globalization,” the stability of identity, general trust, and psychological essentialism were also examined.
At first, to construct a detailed structure of images toward Muslims, we constructed image scales by factor analysis. As a result, it was found that there were three factors of images named “the positive image factor,” “the negative image factor,” and “the piety image factor.”
Secondly, we considered tolerance attitudes through structural equation modeling, which made it clear that the stability of identity, perceived threat, the positive image factor, and the negative image factor had statistically significant and direct relationships to tolerance attitudes. Additionally, general trust, psychological essentialism, and contact experience had indirect relations. Conversely, the piety image factor and sex did not exhibit any relationships. In conclusion, it became clear that tolerance attitudes are determined by complex and multi-layered relationships among several variables.
