Ethnic identification, attitudes, and group relations in Guatemala

Despite many studies that address relations between the two major ethnic groups—Indigenous and Ladino—in Guatemala, there are no scales devised specifically to measure ethnic attitudes. Participants (196 university students) indicated agreement or disagreement on a four-point scale with a large pool of items expressing positive and negative attitudes towards the two groups, and, on a line from pure Indigenous to pure Ladino, their own ethnic identification (the label they use to describe their ethnicity). Reliable scales measuring Attitudes toward Indigenous (AIG) and Attitudes toward Ladinos (ALG) were constructed, and 35% of the participants claimed mixed ethnic identification. Ethnic identification was related to attitudes, with groups demonstrating in-group favoritism; that is, participants expressed more positive attitudes toward their own ethnic group. The results imply that the dichotomous categories of Ladino and Indigenous are inadequate for measuring ethnicity in Guatemala. The newly developed attitude scales may be used to advance knowledge about ethnic relations in Guatemala and to test the generality of findings relating to relations between dominant and subordinate groups.