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New Article in “European Societies” • 21.01.2020Does Economic Insecurity Boost Prejudices against Immigrants?
A new contribution analyses the question of whether economic insecurity can affect attitudes towards immigrants. The results based on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) show that disruptive events, such as becoming unemployed, and a perceived worsening economic situation can increase the probability of increased concerns regarding immigration to Germany.
“In our analysed cases, becoming unemployed significantly increased the probability of having stronger anti-immigrant attitudes,” says lead author Dr. Nico Stawarz from the BiB. These attitudes persisted even when unemployment had ended during the observation period. However, the largest shift in anti-immigrant attitudes was observed when fears of a worsening economic situation increased.
Furthermore, the results reveal that anti-immigrant views rather decrease with growing age, which is contrary to previous studies.
Nico Stawarz, Michael Müller (2019): Concerns regarding immigration in Germany: how subjective fears, becoming unemployed and social mobility change anti-immigrant attitudes. European Societies. DOI: 10.1080/14616696.2019.1690159