Racial and Economic Factors in Attitudes to Immigration

By Christian Dustmann, Ian Preston. Social Science Research Network, 2007

668 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract In this paper we distinguish between three channels that determine attitudes to further immigration: labour market concerns, welfare concerns, and racial or cultural concerns. Our analysis is based on the British Social Attitudes Survey. A unique feature of the survey is that it includes questions on attitudes towards immigration from different origin countries, with populations differing in ethnic similarity to the resident population. It also contains sets of questions relating directly to the labour market, benefit expenditure and welfare concerns, and racial and cultural prejudice. Based on this unique data source, we specify and estimate a multiple factor model that allows comparison of the relative magnitude of association of attitudes to further immigration with the three channels, as well as comparison in responses across potential immigrant groups of different origin. Our results suggest that, overall, welfare concerns play a more important role in determination of attitudes to further immigration than labour market concerns, with their relative magnitude differing across potential emigration regions and characteristics of the respondent. In addition, we find strong evidence that racial or cultural prejudice is an important component to attitudes towards immigration; however, this is restricted to immigration from countries with ethnically different populations.

Subfields: Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/799b6a9b430d4a00cfb16f66d1825bc9a1a95e87

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Citations in the corpus

Immigration, public opinion and the recession in Europe (2016, background): “Such concerns could relate to a variety of categories: ethnicity, social class, industry, locality or the nation as a whole (e.g. Dustmann and Preston 2001, 2007; Ford 2011; Dancygier and Donnelly 2013; Malhotra et al. 2013; Markaki and Longhi 2013).”
Individual Attitudes Towards Immigrants: Welfare-State Determinants Across Countries (2006, positive): “Besides the methodological approach, these works differ from our paper since the analysis focuses on a single country (Dustmann and Preston 2004b) or does not explore the cross-country heterogeneity in the effect of individual-level variables (Dustmann and Preston 2004a).”
Does the Welfare State Affect Individual Attitudes toward Immigrants? Evidence across Countries (2009, result): “ical approach, these two works differ from our paper since the analysis focuses on a single country (Dustmann and Preston 2004b) or does not explore the cross-country heterogeneity in the effect of individual-level variables (Dustmann and Preston 2004a).”
Seeking asylum in Europe (2004, neutral): “white immigrants, particularly among the least educated (Dustmann and Preston, 2000).”
International Migration and the Developing World (2010, background): “Using individual survey data, Dustmann and Preston (2004) suggest racist attitudes are an important component of opposition to immigration in the United Kingdom and Hainmueller and Hiscox (2004) claim that greater tolerance for immigration among the college educated reflects cosmopolitan attitudes…”
Testing a New Theoretical Model for Attitudes Toward Immigrants (2016, background): “…for discriminative actions against immigrants, are related to perceiving them as a threat (Croucher, Aalto, Hirvonen, Sommier, & Hirvonen, 2013; Dustmann & Preston, 2007; Stephan et al., 2000; Stephan, Lausanne Renfro, Esses, White Stephan, & Martin, 2005; Stephan & Stephan, 1996; Velasco…”
Values and Support for Immigration : A Cross-Country Comparison (2008, background): “Traditionally, these studies have focused on the effects of structural variables, economic interests, perceived threat and symbolic motives (e.g., Coenders and Scheepers, 1998; Hagendoorn and Nekuee, 1999; Fetzer, 2000; Scheepers, Gijsberts and Coenders, 2002; Raijman, Semyonov and Schmidt, 2003; Du”
Economic Strain, Ethnic Concentration and Attitudes Towards Foreigners in the European Union (2002, methodology): “On the other hand, Dustmann and Preston (2000) find evidence that both welfare and labor market concerns also matter for the formation of attitudes towards future immigrants, but that the most important factor is non-economic: racial bias.”
The Fiscal Effects of Immigration to the UK (2014, positive): “Indeed, in their analysis of attitudinal data, Dustmann and Preston (2007) provide strong evidence that this concern is more important for individuals’ assessments of immigration policies than concerns about wages or employment.”
IMMIGRATION AND WAGES: EVIDENCE FROM CONSTRUCTION * (2012, neutral): “As consumers they also enjoy more services at lower prices—all of which contribute to the explanation of why highly educated groups tend to be more in favor of liberal immigration policies than less-educated natives (Card et al, 2005; Mayda, 2006; Dustmann and Preston, 2007).”
The effect of perceived cultural and material threats on ethnic preferences in immigration attitudes (2015, background): “Corroborating the few studies that pit material and cultural threats against each other (Sniderman, Hagendoorn, and Prior 2004; Dustmann and Preston 2007), we agree that concern with skill levels or competition may generate ethnic stereotypes (Scheve and Slaughter 2001) or opposition to immigration…”
From Individual Attitudes towards Migrants to Migration Policy Outcomes: Theory and Evidence (2008, positive): “Using the 1995 ISSP data set, Facchini and Mayda (2007) find that, in countries where immigrants are unskilled relative to natives, individual income is negatively correlated with pro-immigration preferences, while the correlation changes sign in destinations characterized by skilled migration.”
Tradable Immigration Quotas (2014, neutral): “Problem (30) is a constrained version of (29).”
Comparing Immigration Policies: An Overview from the IMPALA Database 1 (2016, background): “…differences or perceived threats to traditional culture and values, and a decline of “social capital” and trust, that may generate demands for more restrictive immigration policies (Burns and Gimpel 2000; Fetzer 2000; Chandler and Tsai 2001; Huntington 2004; Dustmann and Preston 2007; Putnam 2007).”