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Analyses of Canadian surveys between 1975 and 1995 evaluate different models of opposition to immigration. Contrary to the symbolic racism hypothesis, opposition to immigration is highly correlated with the unemployment rate, while a more traditional intolerance measure shows relative immunity to economic conditions. The most prejudiced groups are not the strongest immigration opponents -e.g., older respondents are the most intolerant but younger respondents are the most opposed to immigration. A 1989 survey suggests several factors determine support for immigration and that concerns vary logically in their impact -e.g., unemployment concerns matter most to unemployed Canadians and least to retirees, and crime concerns matter more to urban than rural residents. Comparing unemployed to other respondents suggests that becoming unemployed will foster the belief that immigrants take jobs from other Canadians, as well as increase this issue's importance as a determinant of the attitude toward the level of immigration. Overall, the results suggest that opposition to immigration is not simply racism in disguise but a complex attitude resulting from an interplay between various concerns and moderating beliefs about immigration's consequences.

A 3-year longitudinal study assessed the effects of studying in the social sciences versus commerce on sociopolitical orientation. Results reveal field-specific changes in attitudes. Commerce students (n = 34) became, over time, more favorable toward "capitalists," less favorable toward "unions," and less likely to attribute poverty and unemployment to systemic factors. In contrast, social science students ( n = 57) maintained liberal attitudes and became less likely to attribute poverty and unemployment to internal dispositions. Beliefs about internal and external causes of poverty and unemployment, while unrelated in 1 st year, become negatively related in 3rd year but only among social science students. Measures taken in 3rd year to assess the influence of peers, professors, and courses suggest that peers have a generally conservative effect, even in the social sciences, while professors and courses have a liberal effect only in the social sciences.

To provide evidence of the effects of academic training on causal attributions, university students in social science, commerce and engineering were compared at different points of their training in terms of their explanations of poverty and unemployment. Results of cross‐sectional analyses showed no field differences in causal attributions at the beginning of the first academic year but significant differences at the end of the year, with social science students blaming the system more than commerce or engineering students. Longitudinal analysis showed that, within a six‐month interval, the causal attributions of the students changed significantly as a function of their field of study. Differential employment prospects, while not accounting for the effects of academic training, were found to be related to attributional change. These results confirm the hypothesis that causal attributions are affected by socialization in a particular culture and that exposure to the culture of the social sciences reinforces a system‐blame ideology. The implications of these findings for theories of the attribution process and theories of intergroup relations are discussed.

Relations between bilingualism and intergroup attitudes are examined among 663 Francophone students in Quebec, 521 Anglophone cadets at an Ontario military college, and in a longitudinal Anglophone 271-student sample from an Ontario university. In each of the three samples, among older students, unilinguals display ingroupfavouritism; bilinguals do not. Educational level is positively related to ingroup favouritism among unilinguals. Among bilinguals, educational level and favouritism are negatively related in all samples but, while Anglophone bilinguals move from ingroup favouritism to equal evaluations at later levels, Francophone bilinguals move from outgroup favouritism at earlier levels to equal evaluations later. AmongAnglophone respondents, contact with the second-language group is associated with greater levels of ingroup favouritism among respondents with low levels of second-language proficiency. Longitudinal analyses, in the Anglophone university sample, suggest that unilinguals undergo negative contact effects, whereas at the military college, longitudinal analyses (n = 336) reveal increased ingroup favouritism by cadets experiencing failure in second-language training. Among Francophones, relations of bilingualism with attitudes toward other groups are mixed in direction, whereas among Anglophones, relations are uniformly positive. Results are discussed with respect to social identity theory and the social psychology of language.