Low Xenophobia Despite High Immigrant Presence?

What is it about?

Our paper presents the findings of a vast study that showed that natives express less prejudice in high-immigration contexts when policies render immigrants more equal to natives. We analyzed surveys of over 140’000 participants across 66 different countries, 20 Swiss cantons and 64 Flemish-Belgian schools. In short, we found that inclusive policies were related to lower anti-immigrant prejudice in high-immigration settings at all levels of governance and across a broad range of contexts. Xenophobia was high in high-immigration contexts only when immigrant rights are restricted. Conversely, xenophobia was low when there were many immigrants but immigrants are endowed with equal rights.

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Why is it important?

More people than ever are migrating around the world today. In this era of mass migration, a major societal challenge is to understand when people from different backgrounds can live together without hatred and conflict. Some social scientists and politicians alike have claimed that higher numbers of immigrants inevitably fuel prejudice. Our paper shows that higher prejudice is not inevitable, but natives' response to immigration depends on immigrants' rights.