Reactions Toward the New Minorities of Western Europe

Abstract

Millions of ex-colonials, “guest workers,” refugees, and other immigrants have settled in western Europe during recent decades. Extensive research on this phenomenon broadens sociology's understanding of intergroup relations in industrial societies. Unlike African Americans, these new Europeans are often viewed as not “belonging,” and gaining citizenship can be difficult. The chapter discusses four major reactions to the new minorities: prejudice, discrimination, political opposition, and violence. Both blatant and subtle forms of prejudice predict anti-immigrant attitudes. And between 1988 and 1991, a hardening took place in these attitudes. Similarly, direct and indirect discrimination against the new minorities is pervasive. Moreover, anti-discrimination efforts have been largely ineffective. Far-right, anti-immigration political parties have formed to exploit this situation. These openly racist parties have succeeded in shifting the political spectrum on the issue to the right. In addition, violence against third-world immigrants has increased in recent years, especially in nations such as Britain and Germany where far-right parties are weakest. The chapter concludes that these phenomena are remarkably consistent across western Europe. Furthermore, the European research on these topics supports and extends North American research in intergroup relations.

Blatant and subtle prejudice: dimensions, determinants, and consequences; some comments on Pettigrew and Meertens

“…Other researchers have applied these measurements, without too many reservations (Hamberger & Hewstone, 1997;Robinson, Shaver, & Wrightsman, 1999;Wagner & Zick, 1995). Pettigrew and Meertens themselves present their scales in other publications also as being incontestable (Meertens, 1997;Pettigrew, 1997Pettigrew, , 1998. In this contribution, however, we take their cautious statement, dating back to 1995, as an invitation to provide evidence for alternative structures of their scales, their dimensions, determinants, and consequences.…”

What determines attitudes to immigration in European countries? An analysis at the regional level

“…Since Quillian's (1995) first cross-national study of attitudes towards immigrants, there have been numerous analyses focusing on country comparisons (Pettigrew 1998;Scheepers et al 2002;Mayda 2006;Semyonov et al 2006;Weldon 2006;Hainmueller and Hiscox 2007;Meuleman et al 2009;Pichler 2010;Rustenbach 2010). Most of these studies test aggregate sources of competition at the regional and/or national level.…”

(Mis)Reading Muslims and Multiculturalism

“…The difficulty arises when trying to determine the precise impact of economic versus cultural factors. As an illustration, Thomas Pettigrew noted near the end of the past century that there is "less French prejudice against Asians than North Africans and less Dutch prejudice against Surinamers than Turks" ( [4], p. 84). Is this due to the higher human capital levels of Asians versus North Africans and because of the colonial connection with immigrants from Suriname and the lack thereof with Turks?…”