Abstract
AbstractNorway has a history of tough assimilation of the first migration of Roma people, known as the Tater/Romani people. The state introduced laws that discriminated against the Tater/Romani people. This article traces the international and national developments from discriminatory laws to laws against discrimination in Norway. With the recent appearance of immigrant Roma from Eastern Europe, Roma are once again on the political agenda of West European countries. Despite the many laws against discrimination that are now in place, this article demonstrates that the public still discriminates against Roma people. Two survey experiments reveal that the Roma are being directly discriminated against within the Norwegian society and indirectly discriminated against compared to other European Economic Area (EEA) immigrants. The article suggests that this could be related to a history of antiziganism in society. Furthermore, it appears that such attitudes are not easily changed by laws but demands broad social mobilisation.
Highlights
From the mid-1800s to the 1980s, the Norwegian government tried to assimilate the Tater/Romani people through measures that would be considered unacceptable today (NOU 2015: 7, 10)
This time, the public eye is on the marginalised segments of Romanian society, in particular Roma, who come to make a living through begging, and other types of informal street work (Djuve et al 2015: 7). doi:10.1093/migration/mnaa026
E3: People are not more likely to agree that Norway should introduce agreements designed to limit immigration when they are asked about Roma from Romania than when they are asked about other groups
Summary
From the mid-1800s to the 1980s, the Norwegian government tried to assimilate the Tater/Romani people through measures that would be considered unacceptable today (NOU 2015: 7, 10). Since the accession of Romania to the EU, renewed attention has been given to the Roma population in Norway. This time, the public eye is on the marginalised segments of Romanian society, in particular Roma, who come to make a living through begging, and other types of informal street work (Djuve et al 2015: 7). The question remains to what extent citizens’ attitudes towards Roma reflect the ideals embedded in the laws against discrimination. The results demonstrate a remaining gap between the non-discrimination ideals embedded in the laws and the Norwegian citizens’ attitudes as revealed through survey experiments
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