Prawica, lewica i postawy wobec imigrantów. Poglądy Polaków na imigrację i ich dynamika na tle trendów europejskich

Abstract

Political right, political left, and attitudes towards immigrants. Poles’ opinions of immigration and their dynamics against the backdrop of European trends The aim of the analysis is to demonstrate how individual convictions and opinions on immigration are connected with a subjective political identity, defined by one’s position on the left or right side of the political scale. The article focuses on the case of Poland, examining it in the context and in comparison to the processes taking place in other European countries. The analysis refers to the data of the European Social Survey (nine waves from 2002 to 2018). The results reveal that in Western European countries anti-immigrant attitudes are more connected with self-identification as political right, while in Central-Eastern Europe such correlation either does not exist, or is weaker and more rare. Poland is in an earlier phase of the migration cycle (it has small and relatively new immigrant populations), and the institutionalization of political cleavages within the party system is less advanced than in Western Europe. These factors lead to the situation where self-identification as political right on the one hand and scepticism towards immigration on the other are not correlated. Moreover, the results show that during the period under study, voters of the main political parties in Poland showed increasing support for the presence of immigrants in the country’s economy, while the influence of foreigners on the country’s culture became a polarizing question. Among Poles who are sceptical about immigration, the perceived cultural threat is articulated more strongly than the economic threat.