Is Islamophobia Pervasive in the Western World?

Psychology has often operated on a pre-scientific assumption that the Western world is riddled with a pervasive pathological fear of Muslims. However, this question has rarely been empirically evaluated in a large-scale manner. This is made more difficult by the fact that most measurements of Islamophobia do not directly evaluate one of the most basic qualities of a phobia: Irrationality of belief. To evaluate, I review the literature for three criteria related to Western rationality about Muslims: (1) How many Muslims believe in cultural values that are at odds with Western values? (2) How many Muslims support terrorist violence? (3) Are Western views of Muslims incompatible with Muslims’ actual beliefs and behaviors? All three areas reveal Westerners hold both rational and irrational beliefs about Muslims. Overall, however, this review of the literature suggests the average Westerner holds something closer to “rational beliefs with a cultural bias” than an “irrational and debilitating fear” of Islam.