Determinants of People’s Attitudes Towards Immigrants in Europe

Abstract

The paper is aiming to clarify the possible determinants of peoples’ attitudes towards immigrants depending on their personal characteristics as well as attitudes towards households’ socio-economic stability and a country's institutions relying on the data of the European Social Survey fourth round database. The study is intending to provide empirical evidence-based grounds for the development of policy measures to integrate ethnically diverse societies, taking into account the composition of the country's population as well as other country’s peculiarities. The results of the empirical analysis are consistent with several theories explaining individual and collective determinants of people’s attitudes towards immigrants. Ethnic minorities, urban people, people with higher education and higher income, as well as people who have work experience abroad are, as a rule, more tolerant towards immigrants in Europe. Furthermore, people whose attitudes to socio-economic risks are lower and who evaluate the political and legal systems of a country and its police higher (e.g. political trust) are more tolerant towards immigrants. Respondents’ labour market status of (employed, unemployed) does not have a statistically significant relationship with their attitudes towards immigrants. In addition to the respondent’s personal characteristics and their attitudes, the collective determinants depending on country specific conditions measured by country dummies are valid in explaining people’s attitudes towards immigration.