The Relative Strength of Preferences for Association with Coethnics: Malay-Malaysians and Chinese-Malaysians

Abstract—This paper studies the strength of preferences of two major ethnics in Malaysia, Malay-Malaysians and Chinese-Malaysians. Also, the study observes changes of association between these ethnics over period of times. The study utilized a survey research design which had been collected since year 1990 to year 2013. The survey was designed to measure the ethnic preferences over individual self-interest of material kind, social status and personal obligation. The empirical results indicate some inequalities on ethnic preferences between the Malay-Malaysians and the Chinese-Malaysians in early 1990s, but both ethnics illustrate similar preferences in 2000s. The computed social alignment score demonstrates the tolerance of both ethnics on material and personal obligation, but the ethnic choice is much preferred than the social status. In relative, individual self-interests are much developed among the Malay-Malaysians compared to the Chinese-Malaysians.

Index Terms—Diversity, ethnicity, social alignment, social index.

Mansor Mohd Noor is with the Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia (e-mail: mnmansor@ukm.edu.my).
Nor Idayu Mahat is with the School of Quantitative Sciences, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 UUM Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia (e-mail: noridayu@uum.edu.my).

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Cite: Mansor Mohd Noor and Nor Idayu Mahat, "The Relative Strength of Preferences for Association with Coethnics: Malay-Malaysians and Chinese-Malaysians," International Journal of Culture and History vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 76-80, 2015.