Explaining Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policy: A Review of the Theoretical Literature

Abstract

In the research literature on immigration attitudes, there are a number of theories that explain why individuals hold positive or negative opinions of certain immigrant groups and immigration policies. In this review of the literature, the theories are summarized into five categories: personal and social identity, self and group interest, cultural values and beliefs, social interaction, and multilevel theories. The majority of the theories offer explanations that favor one causal direction, focus on social psychology or the social structural environment, and assume that effects are additive rather than interactive. It is argued in this review that scholars would benefit by using multilevel theories, such as group position theory and intersectionality, in order to extend their explanatory reach past the theoretical standards and, in doing so, be able to better examine some understudied but important questions, such as why individuals often hold pro‐ and anti‐immigrant opinions simultaneously. Multilevel theories have the potential to offer a nuanced understanding of immigration attitudes.

An Examination of the Attitudes towards Immigration across U.S. Demographic Groups

“…Historically, increased immigration has been strongly correlated with the growth of the economy and social development (Fussell 2014). However, Americans' stances on immigrants and immigration policies have not always been positive (Fussell 2014;Berg 2014;Berg 2015).…”

“…Scholars of many disciplines have been studying the intricate relationship between the benefits of immigration to the nation and anti-immigration views (Bikmen 2015;Chandler and Tsai 2001;Czaika 2015;Esses, Brochu, and Dickson 2012;Esses 2002). Sociologists, specifically, have been theorizing such correlation (Berg 2015;Fussell 2014). Of the sociological theories proposed for the attitudes towards immigration, group threat theory is cited frequently to describe the issue at hand.…”

Attitudes Toward Immigrants in Rural Norway. A Rural‐Urban Comparison

“…Although there is no unified theory for framing public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration (Price and Oshagan 1995;Chandler andTsai 2001, in Czaika andLillo 2018), theories of identity and in-group/out-group sentiment are fundamental to most explanations for why individuals oppose or support immigration. Berg (2015) argues that differing explanations of attitudes are not mutually exclusive and that scholars would benefit by using multilevel theories in order to attain a more nuanced understanding. Sides and Citrin (2007) distinguish between theories based on interests and those based on social identity.…”

Occupational exposure to foreigners and attitudes towards equal opportunities

“…Labour force competition as an explanation for attitudes towards foreigners indeed remains an important channel when the labour market is addressed in a realistic manner (see also Ortega and Polavieja, 2012;Lee and Lee, 2015;Polavieja, 2016). Rather than trying to identify a single inuence to explain dierences in attitudes towards foreigners, immigrants, or ethnic/racial minorities, in our view future research should focus on the dierent paths by which attitudes can be shaped, and especially on the interaction between paths (Berg, 2015).…”

“…Several recent contributions have suggested that concerns over the impact of immigration on society dominate over concerns over the individual situation (Hainmueller and Hopkins, 2014;Berg, 2015). While we do not doubt the importance of concerns over the impact of immigration on society, here we show that negative attitudes to foreigners are associated with individual competition with immigrants at the occupation level.…”