Economic self-interest or cultural marginality? Anti-immigration sentiment and nativist political movements in France, Germany and the USA

Nationalisms and Anti-immigrant Sentiment in Spain

“…To unveil the mechanisms behind exclusionary attitudes towards immigrants, scholars have focused on realistic and perceived threats at the individual and group level (see Fetzer 2000a;2000b;Jackson et al 2001), inter-group contact (Escandell & Ceobanu 2009;McLaren 2003), cultural and symbolic threats (Jackson et al 2001;Raijman et al 2003), and contextual factors such as minority group size and economic inequality (Ceobanu & Escandell 2008;Quillian 1995;Kunovich 2002;Semyonov et al 2006). These studies have focused on attitudes expressed by majority populations, though their findings are applicable when investigating regional nationalisms.…”

Changing attitudes toward immigration in Europe, 2002–2007: A dynamic group conflict theory approach

“…Most of these studies focus on the social location and other correlates-both at the individual and at the contextual level-of such attitudes. Ample evidence has been presented that outgroup attitudes are closely connected to variables such as educational level Hagendoorn and Nekuee, 1999;Hainmueller and Hiscox, 2007), economic interests (Citrin et al, 1997;Dustmann and Preston, 2004;Fetzer, 2000), religiosity (Billiet, 1995;McFarland, 1989), human values (Davidov et al, 2008;Sagiv and Schwartz, 1995), perceived threat (Scheepers 2 et al, 2002;Semyonov et al, 2004), right-wing voting behavior , and the economic context and the size of the immigrant population (Quillian, 1995;Schneider, 2008;Semyonov et al, 2008).…”

Political attitudes in a rapidly changing European landscape: methodological and substantive insights from the ESS-Netherlands panel component

“…A recent study in the USA demonstrates that American technology workers are more likely to oppose the granting of temporary entry visas for overseas technology workers (Malhotra, Margalit, & Mo, 2013). On the other hand, there is an extensive body of research reporting that individuals whose interests are not directly threatened by immigrant groups are just as likely to oppose immigration as those who experience direct economic competition with immigrant groups (Fetzer, 2000;Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2007;Sears & Funk, 1991). These studies suggest that prejudice against immigrants results from a real or perceived threat to the collective interest of the dominant group rather than the self-interest of the individual himself.…”

“…Earlier research adopting a group conflict theory perspective found limited traces of self-interest as a motivating factor (Fetzer, 2000;Malchow-Møller, Munch, Schroll, & Skaksen, 2008;Malhotra, Margalit, & Mo, 2013;Palmer, 1996), whereas studies testing the predictions of group conflict theory firmly established that perceptions of economic threats to the collective interests of the dominant group play a crucial role in shaping anti-immigrant sentiments and support for more exclusionist immigration policies (Hainmueller & Hiscox, 2007Schneider, 2008;Sides & Citrin, 2007;Sniderman, Hagendoorn, & Prior, 2004). A vast amount of previous research demonstrated that perceived threats to the economic interests of the dominant group foster anti-immigrant sentiments especially during times of economic hardship (Meuleman, Davidov, & Billiet, 2009;Sides & Citrin, 2007).…”

“…In recent decades, large inflows of immigrants and immigration policies attempting to deal with the influx have become a salient issue in immigrant-receiving nations across the globe (Card, Dustmann, & Preston, 2005;Fetzer, 2000). In the USA, where immigration from south of the border has triggered concerns over economic and cultural threats posed by low-skilled and Spanish-speaking immigrants, the immigration debate has taken a new turn after the 9/11 terrorist attacks (Harell, Soroka, Iyengar, & Valentino, 2012).…”