Assessing the Impact of Social Trust on Attitudes Towards Immigrants: Evidence from Brazil

Abstract

Since the 2000s, the number of immigrants has been growing in Brazil. Following this, the cases of xenophobia became more frequent. This paper investigates whether social trust, here categorized into generalized and particularized, can reduce negative attitudes towards immigrants. Although this relationship has already been studied in other countries, no study has yet been applied to the Brazilian case. We hypothesize that greater social trust is related to a more positive attitude towards immigrants. Using data from the World Values ​​Survey wave 7, and applying a logit model, we found a positive relationship, even after the inclusion of controls, corroborating the argument that social trust is a relevant proxy to reduce negative perceptions towards immigrants. Regarding the political implications, our results suggest that public policies targeting social trust building can be beneficial to reduce tensions between natives and immigrants, and consequently the cases of xenophobia and intolerance in Brazil.