Anti-immigrant Attitudes Research Articles

Understanding Job Search Processes for a Better Job Search Experience

Job search scholarship has established the job search as a self-regulatory, within-individual process that individuals engage in as they pursue new employment opportunities. Traditional scholarship has focused on job search quantity –the degree of effort exerted–and offers received as a result of job search efforts potentially at the neglect of understanding factors that impact job search quality. Therefore, recent job search scholarship has begun to shift away from this conventional paradigm to instead focus on the quality of job seekers job search experiences and different factors that impact job seeker well-being and perceptions. This symposium includes four papers that address job seeker well-being (e.g., psychological resources) and job search quality (e.g., types of search effort) as well as investigating psychosocial aspects of job seekers search experiences (e.g., degree of network centrality, volunteer work while unemployed). These papers are indicative of current trends in the job search literature and represent promising new streams for future research areas. The symposium also platforms preeminent job search scholar, Dr. Connie Wanberg, as the discussant of these works in progress. THE ROLE OF JOB SEARCH EXPERIENCE IN THE EMERGENCE OF ANTI-IMMIGRANT ATTITUDES Presenter: Serge P. Da Motta Veiga; EDHEC Business School Presenter: Shuhua Sun; Tulane U. Presenter: Ray Fang; Boise State U. VOLUNTEER WORK DURING UNEMPLOYMENT: DOES IT PAY OFF? A 5-WAVE LONGITUDINAL STUDY Presenter: Sarah Van Den Hee; U. of Amsterdam Presenter: Edwin A.J. Van Hooft; U. of Amsterdam OPPOSING EFFECTS OF HUMAN CAPITAL AND SOCIAL CAPITAL ON JOB SEARCH SELF-REGULATION Presenter: Jomel Wei Xuan Ng; National U. of Singapore THE INFLUENCE OF CHALLENGE AND HINDRANCE APPRAISALS ON SEARCH BEHAVIOR AND IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT Presenter: Rebecca MacGowan; U. of Arkansas Presenter: Mahira Ganster; U. of Arizona Presenter: Nitya Chawla; Texas A&M U. Presenter: Jerel Slaughter; U. of Arizona

Visualizing the European migrant crisis on social media: the relation of crisis visualities to migrant visibility

ABSTRACT The paper analyses popular geographical imageries of the European migrant crisis. It focuses on visualities that shaped discussions about the event among Czech Facebook users with anti-immigration attitudes. The paper elaborates on the co-production of migrants’ visibility and visualities that depict them in certain ways. Visuality influences visibility and shapes what it means for people (who are represented by images) to be visible in certain ways when seen by another people (who observe and consume the images). Here, we analyse how cartographic visualizations and the practice of montage of images produce meanings and affects that make migrants either visible only as abusers of the Czech social welfare system (linking migrants in a racist way to the Roma minority) or visible only as dehumanized raging Muslim invaders that resemble more machine-like beings. These interpretations are explained with references to historical specificities of the Czech context. A user-made, film-like sci-fi video of the crisis is also analysed carefully to demonstrate its imaginary of a collapsing Western Europe, where raging invaders dominate. Presenting migrants’ visuality as invaders links these racist and Islamophobic attitudes to migrants’ visibility as enemies and targets to be killed, not pitiable human beings to be helped.

Gender equality salience, backlash and radical right voting in the gender-equal context of Sweden

Cultural backlash research explains voting for populist radical right (PRR) parties mostly by socioeconomic factors and anti-immigration attitudes, neglecting the role of gender values. This study addresses this gap by arguing that gender issue salience triggers backlash against liberalising gender values, resulting in PRR votes by people with conservative gender values. This is tested in the gender-equal context of Sweden by analysing national elections data from 2014 to 2018, comparing voting behaviour before and after a period marked by strong gender issue salience. The study demonstrates that (a) the gap between conservatives’ and liberals’ gender values widens, and (b) conservative gender values predict PRR voting in Sweden in 2018 but not in 2014. These findings suggest that salience of liberalising gender values may trigger backlash, which in turn fuels PRR voting.

Latino Growth and Whites’ Anti-Black Resentment

AbstractThe size and especially the growth of the Latino population in the United States are associated with anti-Latino and anti-immigrant attitudes. Findings from a recent line of experimental work suggest that Latino growth may also be associated with Whites’ anti-Black attitudes. Racial status threat could account for this association if Whites view Latino growth as a potential challenge to their status within a multi-group system that includes Blacks. Alternatively, or in addition, by engendering instability and uncertainty, Latino growth may promote ideological conservatism, which itself predicts racial attitudes. Building on prior work, this study examines the association between real, local Latino population growth––as opposed to manipulated or perceived growth––and Whites’ anti-Black resentment for a nationally representative sample of White Americans. Using data from the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Survey, the study finds that Whites in counties where the Latino population grew more report stronger anti-Black resentment. They are also more likely to perceive a threat to Whites’ racial status and to endorse ideological conservatism. Perceived threat and conservatism each partially account for the association between Latino growth and anti-Black resentment, suggesting the effect of Latino growth on anti-Black resentment is mediated through both channels.

Like the cool kids? The role of popular classmates in the development of anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescence

While classmates have been identified as important socializing agents in relation to adolescents’ prejudice, there is limited understanding of how popularity status plays into classroom transmission of prejudicial attitudes. Drawing on theories of social influence, we used a three-wave panel of Swedish adolescents ( N = 941, aged 13–15) to examine the role of sociometric and prestige popular classmates in the development of adolescents’ anti-immigrant attitudes. Multilevel repeated measurement models revealed positive relationships between popular and individual prejudice; between sociometric prejudice and the level and rate of change; and between prestige prejudice and wave-to-wave shifts in individual prejudice. Overall, we found sociometrically popular classmates to be more influential in relation to adolescents’ prejudice. Additionally, we found the effect of sociometric prejudice to be more pronounced if political issues were frequently discussed in the classroom.

Societal Violence, National Identification, and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: A Cross-national Study

Abstract Existing research shows that anti-immigrant attitudes are driven by a wide variety of individual- and contextual-level factors. The present study introduces “societal violence”—the degree to which human rights are violated and physical survival is threatened in society—as a significant, yet neglected, explanatory concept in analyzing negative attitudes toward immigrants. Data are drawn from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) 2013. Two-level mixed effects models are estimated with random intercepts and slopes. Results show that societal violence significantly moderates the magnitude of the relationships between measures of national identification and negative sentiment toward immigrant among 27 280 respondents across 29 low- and high-income countries. More specifically, the associations are found to be greater in less violent societies.

Early Adolescents Demonstrate Peer-Network Homophily in Political Attitudes and Values

Research on political homophily has almost exclusively focused on adults, and little is known about whether political homophily is present early in life when political attitudes are forming and friendship networks are rapidly changing. We examined political homophily using a social network approach with rural middle school students (N = 213; mean age = 12.5 years; 57% female) from a remote U.S. community. Preregistered analyses indicated that early adolescents were more likely to spend time with people who shared similar political attitudes and values. These effects were most consistent for right-wing authoritarianism, patriotism, and anti-immigration attitudes. Our results show that political homophily is evident at an early age when young people are forming their political beliefs and making decisions about their friendships, suggesting that peer political-attitude socialization may emerge early in life.

Place resentment in ‘the places that don’t matter’: explaining the geographic divide in populist and anti-immigration attitudes

Place resentment in ‘the places that don’t matter’: explaining the geographic divide in populist and anti-immigration attitudes

Xenophobia among radical and mainstream right-wing party voters: prevalence, correlates and influence on party support

ABSTRACT Considering the current political relevance of anti-immigration sentiments, we examined preference to avoid interacting with immigrants – conceptualized here as a manifestation of xenophobia – among radical (Sweden Democrats, Sverigedemokraterna, N = 2216) and mainstream (Conservative Party, Moderaterna, N = 634) right-wing voters in Sweden. Correlates of xenophobia did not differ between the voter groups or compared to other populations in previous research, suggesting that increased societal focus on immigration has not altered the correlation patterns. Intended Sweden Democrat (vs. Conservative Party) voting correlated with Right-Wing Authoritarianism, institutional distrust, less right-leaning socioeconomic attitudes (in both low- and high-xenophobia subgroups), sexist attitudes (low-xenophobia subgroup), male gender and younger age (high-xenophobia subgroup). In both voter groups, respondents with higher xenophobia expressed on average more sympathy for the Sweden Democrats, perhaps indicating a larger potential voter base. We discuss the interplay of xenophobia and contemporary voting behaviours, and the concept of xenophobia in relation to anti-immigration attitudes.

Immigration Attitudes and Positive Messaging: Evidence From the United States

This paper considers a messaging strategy to shift immigration preferences, arguing that if citizen attitudes in this issue-area build from several dimensions, then a positive message related to each dimension should move attitudes in a more favorable direction. It tests the first part using original survey data with directly comparable questions about whether immigration hurts/helps American culture/the economy/national security, providing evidence that all three dimensions currently support the preferences of voting-age citizens. It tests the second part by randomly presenting another sample with different messages about how labor immigration strengthens national security, creates new jobs, or enhances culture, finding that all three reduce anti-immigration attitudes with significant effects even within groups that are more opposed to immigration (namely, white Americans, those with less education, and partisan Republicans).

Dealing with declining dominance: White identification and anti-immigrant hostility in the US

Increasing diversity and the anticipation of its resulting cultural change is raising vociferous protestations among White Americans. Here, we explore moderation and mediation of its intergroup implications. Among a nationally representative sample of White Americans, Study 1 ( n = 2,257) revealed that living in a region that experienced a greater (vs. lesser) increase in racial diversity in recent years was associated with more anti-immigrant attitudes, but only among those who were highly White-identified. In an experiment, Study 2 ( n = 420, White Americans) revealed that collective nostalgia (i.e., longing for the ingroup’s past) mediated the relation between anticipated cultural change resulting from shifting demographics and anti-immigrant attitudes, but only for those who were highly White-identified. Thus, anti-immigrant sentiment among White Americans in response to changing demographics and culture is seen primarily among those personally invested in their White racial identity, an effect partly explained by a longing for bygone days.

Tolerating the intolerant: Does realistic threat lead to increased tolerance of right-wing extremists?

Previous research suggests that threat can bolster anti-immigration attitudes, but less is known about the effects of threat on ideological tolerance. We tested the hypothesis that realistic threats — tangible threats to e.g., the safety or financial well-being of one’s group — bolster support for right-wing extremists. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 200) learned that crime and unemployment rates were either increasing (high threat condition) or remaining the same (low threat condition). Consistent with our hypothesis, higher threat lead to a significant increase in tolerance for right-wing, but not left-wing, extremists. In a second, pre-registered extended replication experiment (N = 385), we added a baseline (no threat) condition. Additionally, attitudes to immigrants were examined as a mediator. This experiment produced non-significant threat effects on tolerance of right-wing extremists. Overall, the current research provides weak support for the hypothesis that realistic threats have asymmetric effects on tolerance of political extremists. However, consistent with previous research, people were more tolerant of extremists within their own ideological camp.

Disgust sensitivity and support for immigration across five nations.

Immigration has become a focal debate in politics across the world. Recent research suggests that anti-immigration attitudes may have deep psychological roots in implicit disease avoidance motivations. A key implication of this theory is that individual differences in disease avoidance should be related to opposition to immigration across a wide variety of cultural and political contexts. However, existing evidence on the topic has come almost entirely from the United States and Canada. In this article, we test the disease avoidance hypothesis using nationally representative samples from Norway, Sweden, Turkey, and Mexico, as well as two diverse samples from the United States. We find consistent and robust evidence that disgust sensitivity is associated with anti-immigration attitudes and that the relationship is similar in magnitude to education. Overall, our findings support the disease avoidance hypothesis and provide new insights into the nature of anti-immigration attitudes.

The Role of the Social Environment in the Relationship Between Group-Focused Enmity Towards Social Minorities and Politically Motivated Crime

Politically motivated crime against a person is characterised by the fact that the victims are interchangeable in the sense that individuals are seen as representatives of their social or ethnic group. The current study examines whether the existence of group-focused enmity (GFE) is linked to the perpetration of discriminatory behaviour, in the form of politically motivated crime, which is considered a classic example of the attitude–behaviour relationship. Although various survey studies show connections between group-focused enmity towards social minorities and discriminatory behavioural intentions, there is less knowledge available on whether attitudes can also be regarded as potential risk factors for actual behaviour. The role of the social environment in this relationship, as well as how the attitudes of the social environment are related to the perpetration of politically motivated crime, regardless of personal group-focused enmity, are further analysed. Using a representative student sample from the year 2018 (N = 2824), results show that anti-immigrant, anti-gay, ableist and anti-homeless attitudes are potential risk factors for the perpetration of politically motivated crime against these social minority groups, even after controlling for various other correlates of politically motivated crime. Group-focused enmity has an even greater effect when the student has a like-minded friendship group. Moreover, if the adolescent’s friendship group (hypothetically) approves of such discriminatory behaviour, the likelihood of acting in a politically violent manner is increased, even for adolescents who do not support group-focused enmity.

Analysing homophobia, xenophobia and sexual nationalisms in Africa: Comparing quantitative attitudes data to reveal societal differences

To problematise Western discourses of a homophobic Africa, there is a need to analyse evidence of homophobia and its interplay with other attitudes, in ways that explore contextual differences. Hence, this article offers an original sociological analysis of quantitative data on homophobia in African states, examining how this inter-relates with xenophobia. Social attitudes data are drawn from the Afrobarometer research project as a unique and important source, and compared in five diverse contexts: Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia. Data are examined from Round 6 (2014–2015) and Round 7 (2016–2018). Findings are interpreted in light of specific national literatures on the relations between sexuality, gender and nationalism, as well as wider critical and postcolonial perspectives – especially conceptualisation of sexual nationalisms, and recent literatures on political homophobia. Whereas analyses of homonationalism in Western societies have explored alignments of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex rights affirmation with anti-immigrant attitudes, this study explores such relationships between homophobic and xenophobic attitudes in alternative patterns within specific African contexts. The analysis delivered not only challenges Western discourses of generalised African homophobia (especially discussing the counterexample of Mozambique) but also advances understanding of the complexity of how attitudes inter-relate in different postcolonial states.

A Little More Conversation A Little Less Prejudice: The Role of Classroom Political Discussions for Youth’s Attitudes toward Immigrants

ABSTRACT Although previous research has shown that deliberative discussions have consequences for intergroup attitudes, very little is known about this impact during the formative adolescent years. In addition, the mechanism explaining the mechanism through which discussions affect intergroup attitudes is not clear. This 3-wave study of Swedish adolescents (N = 892, 51.1% girls, MageT1 = 13.41, nested in 35 classrooms) examined the role of teacher-initiated political discussions in the classroom for the development of youth attitudes toward immigrants. The results of multilevel analysis showed that adolescents who perceived political discussions to be less frequent increased in anti-immigrant attitudes compared to youth with more frequent discussions. Similarly, classrooms with less deliberative atmosphere were more negative toward immigrants than classrooms with a higher frequency of discussions, and this effect remained two years after the students moved to new schools. Mediation analysis revealed that general political interest (but not news consumption) explained the effects of classroom discussions on attitudes: Youth who perceived that their teachers frequently initiate political discussions developed higher general political interest and, in turn, lower anti-immigrant attitudes than youth with less frequent discussions. The findings show an important role of classroom political discussions for the formation of intergroup attitudes in adolescence. The findings suggest that frequent discussions reduce the risk of prejudice development by stimulating youth general political interest.

Pandemic threat and intergroup relations: how negative emotions associated with the threat of Covid-19 shape attitudes towards immigrants

ABSTRACT Behavioural immune system theory predicts that attitudes towards immigrants become more hostile during times of increased threat from pathogens, as pandemic threat triggers aversive emotional responses, which in turn foster outgroup hostility. We test this notion in the context of the current Covid-19 crisis. Combining both original individual-level survey data of around 6,000 European respondents during the second Corona wave in winter 2020/2021 and regional data of pandemic threat in a multilevel design, we show that Covid-19 pandemic threat exposure in 105 European regions is indeed associated with more negative attitudes towards immigrants. Moreover, hierarchical path models indicate that Covid-19-induced anger fosters anti-immigrant attitudes, while we find no evidence that disgust as a pivotal avoidance-oriented emotion is crucial. In contrast to conventional wisdom, individuals reacting with fear to the pandemic hold more immigrant-friendly orientations. Taken together, our results indicate that the behavioural immune system (BIS) appears as a compelling obstacle to inclusive orientations. However, our findings challenge the notion that every emotion triggered by the BIS translates the pandemic threat into negative attitudes towards immigrants.

Oriental Irritants and Occidental Aspirants: Immigrant Portrayals in Hearst Magazines, 1905–1945

William Randolph Hearst became editor and proprietor of the San Francisco Examiner in 1887, and by 1935, he had assembled a media empire consisting of nearly 30 major newspapers, 13 magazines, 8 radio stations, 3 news wires, and 2 motion picture companies. Most scholarship about Hearst has focused on his newspapers; less studied have been the magazines he acquired early in the 20th century. This monograph examines immigrant representations in Hearst magazines published between 1905 and 1945, focusing on how magazine fiction, nonfiction, and “fact-fiction” articles presented immigrants and immigration as social and political issues. Like Hearst himself, the publications favored immigrants from Germany and the Scandinavian countries of northern Europe and tended to disfavor those from China and Japan and, to a lesser extent, Mexico. According to the magazines, immigrants from the Far East and Mexico were “undesirables” who threatened society by, allegedly, importing, selling, and using hazardous drugs. Newspaper advertisements, news articles, and editorials extended these portrayals to wider audiences. Hearst also applied cross-media promotion to motion pictures, with writers converting fiction from his magazines into screenplays for Cosmopolitan Productions and MGM. The monograph contains examples of how magazine content and iconic covers have informed contemporary films and television series. In recent years, stylized representations have glamorized lifestyles but have also perpetuated cultural stereotypes that may contribute to anti-immigrant attitudes.

Are Immigrants Scapegoats? The Reciprocal Relationships Between Subjective Well-Being, Political Distrust, and Anti-immigrant Attitudes in Young Adulthood.

This study examined the impact of native youth's subjective well-being on exclusionary attitudes toward immigrants, seeking to understand the relationship between subjective well-being, political distrust, and anti-immigrant attitudes over time. Using longitudinal data, we followed three cohorts of native young adults (N = 1352; Mage = 22.72, SD = 3.1) in Sweden over a period of 2years. The results showed that subjective well-being did not predict an increase in anti-immigrant attitudes among native youth, but anti-immigrant attitudes had a significant impact on subjective well-being. The data also found bidirectional and mutually reinforcing relationships between subjective well-being and political distrust, and between political distrust and anti-immigrant attitudes. These results highlight that improving young adults' subjective well-being represents an important basis for preventing the development of political distrust, which in turn could reduce native youth's susceptibility to adopt hostile attitudes toward immigrants.

The good ol’ days: White identity, racial nostalgia, and the perpetuation of racial extremism

A prevailing theme in White nationalist rhetoric is nostalgia for a time when Whites dominated American culture and had unchallenged status. The present research examines a form of collective nostalgia called racial nostalgia and its association with negative intergroup attitudes and extreme ideologies (White nationalism). In Studies 1 and 2, racial nostalgia was associated with higher racial identity, anti-immigrant attitudes, and White nationalism. Study 2 revealed that racial nostalgia was related to extreme ideologies, in part, through perceptions that immigrants and racial minorities posed realistic/symbolic threats. Study 3 manipulated nostalgia using a writing prompt (“America’s racial past” vs. “games of America’s past”) and an identity prime (prime vs. no prime). Racial nostalgia was higher in the racial prompt versus the games prompt condition, regardless of identity prime. Furthermore, there were significant indirect effects of the nostalgia manipulation on support for anti-immigrant policies and endorsement of White nationalism through increased racial nostalgia and its association with perceived threats. These findings show that racial nostalgia can be a maladaptive form of collective nostalgia linked to a sense of loss and threat, and can make people sympathetic to extreme racial ideologies.