Economic self-interest or cultural marginality? Anti-immigration sentiment and nativist political movements in France, Germany and the USA

Abstract

Many previous studies of mass nativism have used abstract psychological explanations or sociological 'micro-theories' to account for public opposition to immigration or support for nativist political movements. On methodological and policy grounds, however, both of these approaches are unsatisfying. This article instead articulates two theories that usually avoid such pitfalls: first, economic self-interest and second, marginality (especially in its cultural version). The study tests these two explanations using public-opinion surveys on opposition to immigration in France, Germany, and the USA and polls on support for the French Front national , the German Republikaner , and California's Proposition 187. Multivariate analysis weakly supports economic self-interest but generally confirms the cultural if not economic form of marginality. These results may suggest that the current battles over immigration have as much to do with whose cultural values will triumph as with whose economic wellbeing will be protected.