How do cross-pressures affect immigration attitudes? Party and educational influences

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Alina Vrânceanu
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Attitudes

Populist and nativist attitudes: Does ingroup-outgroup thinking spill over across domains?

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652199287
Author(s):  
Matthijs Rooduijn ◽  
Bart Bonikowski ◽  
Jante Parlevliet
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Muslim Immigrants ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Moral Frameworks ◽  
Ingroup Outgroup

What are the attitudinal consequences of the growing pervasiveness of populism and nativism? We conceive of both populism and nativism as binary moral frameworks predicated on an antagonistic relationship between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Our study investigates the presence of spillover effects between these two forms of ingroup-outgroup thinking among survey respondents in the Netherlands. We posit that exposure to populist (nativist) messages fuels nativism (populism), but only among those positively predisposed toward these messages in the first place. A first survey experiment, focusing on antipathies toward refugees and Muslim immigrants, confirms the former expectation, but a second experiment calls into question the latter hypothesis. Moreover, the second experiment does not replicate the effects of populist message exposure on general immigration attitudes. We discuss several possible reasons for these mixed results.

Value Shift: Immigration Attitudes and the Sociocultural Divide

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Caroline Marie Lancaster
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Gender Attitudes ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Gender Egalitarianism ◽  
Period Effects ◽  
Value Shift ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Social Conservatism ◽  
Life Cycle Effects

Abstract The sociocultural divide in Western Europe is increasingly focused on issues of national identity, namely immigration. It is commonly assumed that opponents of immigration also exhibit conservatism on other sociocultural issues. Yet recent research suggests that general social conservatism is declining in the region. Do immigration attitudes fit squarely into the sociocultural dimension? Using survey data from eleven West European countries, as well as a Dutch household panel from 2007–2019, this study finds that gender attitudes, a key sociocultural issue, are subject to change through both cohort and life cycle effects, while immigration attitudes are stable over the course of the panel and exhibit little variation across cohorts. Immigration attitudes also appear to be immune to period effects resulting from the 2015 refugee crisis. Further, those born during and after the ‘post-materialist revolution’ have weakened associations between these two attitudes, while older individuals' attitudes are strongly correlated. The combination of gender egalitarianism and anti-immigrant sentiment may become increasingly common as acceptance of the former spreads, while immigration remains a hotly contested issue.

Some Media Matter More Than Others: Investigating Media Effects on Attitudes toward and Perceptions of Immigration in Sweden

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1238-1264
Author(s):  
Nora Theorin ◽  
Jesper Strömbäck
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Alternative Media ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Effects Of Media ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigration

Over the last decade, issues related to immigration have become increasingly salient across Western democracies. This increasing salience has made it more important to understand people’s attitudes toward immigration, including the effects of media use on those attitudes. Differentiating between attitudes toward different types of immigration, attitudes toward immigration from different parts of the world, and perceptions of immigration’s impact, this article investigates the effects of media use on attitudes toward and perceptions of immigration in Sweden. Based on a three-year, three-wave panel study, it investigates the effects of media use on the individual level. Among other things, results show that there are limited effects of using traditional news media but more substantial effects on people’s immigration attitudes of using anti-immigration, right-wing alternative media and pro-immigration, left-wing alternative media. These findings imply that it is highly relevant to account for media use, especially alternative media use, when studying public attitudes toward immigration. Further, we find that variations in people’s immigration attitudes, to a high degree, depend on the type of immigration and on where migrants are coming from. This finding underlines the importance of measuring both of these aspects when the aim is understanding general attitudes toward immigration and/or key predictors behind immigration attitudes.

Education and Anti-Immigration Attitudes: Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Reforms across Western Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 113 (1) ◽  
pp. 254-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHARLOTTE CAVAILLE ◽  
JOHN MARSHALL
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Compulsory Schooling ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Secondary Schooling ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Post War

Low levels of education are a powerful predictor of anti-immigration sentiment. However, there is little consensus on the interpretation of this correlation: is it causal or is it an artifact of selection bias? We address this question by exploiting six major compulsory schooling reforms in five Western European countries—Denmark, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden—that have recently experienced politically influential anti-immigration movements. On average, we find that compelling students to remain in secondary school for at least an additional year decreases anti-immigration attitudes later in life. Instrumental variable estimates demonstrate that, among such compliers, an additional year of secondary schooling substantially reduces the probability of opposing immigration, believing that immigration erodes a country’s quality of life, and feeling close to far-right anti-immigration parties. These results suggest that rising post-war educational attainment has mitigated the rise of anti-immigration movements. We discuss the mechanisms and implications for future research examining anti-immigration sentiment.

North American Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration in the Time of COVID-19: The Role of National Attachment and Threat

2021 ◽  
Vol 697 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-173
Author(s):  
Victoria M. Esses ◽  
Alina Sutter ◽  
Joanie Bouchard ◽  
Kate H. Choi ◽  
Patrick Denice
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward Immigrants ◽  
Country Level ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
National Attachment ◽  
National Representative Survey

Using a cross-national representative survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine predictors of attitudes toward immigrants and immigration in Canada and the United States, including general and COVID-related nationalism, patriotism, and perceived personal and national economic and health threats. In both countries, nationalism, particularly COVID-related nationalism, predicted perceptions that immigration levels were too high and negative attitudes toward immigrants. Patriotism predicted negative immigration attitudes in the United States but not in Canada, where support for immigration and multiculturalism are part of national identity. Conversely, personal and national economic threat predicted negative immigration attitudes in Canada more than in the United States. In both countries, national health threat predicted more favorable views of immigration levels and attitudes toward immigrants, perhaps because many immigrants have provided frontline health care during the pandemic. Country-level cognition in context drives immigration attitudes and informs strategies for supporting more positive views of immigrants and immigration.

The Effect of Immigrant Integration Policies on Public Immigration Attitudes: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
pp. 019791832110634
Author(s):  
Michael Neureiter
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Immigrant Integration ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Intergroup Threat ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Integration Policies ◽  
Immigration Attitudes ◽  
Intergroup Threat Theory ◽  
Threat Theory

Drawing on intergroup threat theory, this article argues that immigrant integration policies can improve public attitudes toward immigrants and, particularly, toward refugees and asylum-seekers. Examining evidence from an original survey experiment conducted in the United Kingdom, I find that support for admitting asylum-seekers increases when respondents are made aware that prospective asylum-seekers will be required to partake in language and civic-education courses. This effect is particularly strong among respondents who were more likely to perceive asylum-seekers as a symbolic threat (i.e., conservatives). Similarly, support for admitting asylum-seekers increases when respondents are told that future asylum-seekers will only have limited access to welfare. This effect is stronger among respondents who were more likely to view asylum-seekers as a material threat (i.e., conservatives and individuals with low socioeconomic status). These findings have important implications for the literatures on immigrant integration policies, intergroup threat theory, and public immigration attitudes generally. Importantly, the results reported in this article illustrate the significance of structural determinants for the study of immigration attitudes and demonstrate the importance of disaggregating immigrant integration policies when evaluating their effects.

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