Nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism in a comparative perspective : an empirical study of attitudes towards the country and ethnic immigrants in 22 countries

Contains fulltext : 19170_natiatane.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The start of the twenty-first century was characterized by large-scale international migration, intense ethnic conflicts and ethnic antagonism. Attitudes toward the ethnic in-group and toward ethnic out-groups have gained increasing relevance as a research topic in the social sciences. This book studies the attitudes of ethnic majority populations toward their own country and the national in-group (nationalistic attitudes) on the one hand, and attitudes toward ethnic minorities and immigrants (ethnic exclusionism) on the other hand. In this cross-national comparative study, hypotheses derived from various sociological and social psychological theories, such as social identity theory and realistic group conflict theory, are tested using survey data from 22 countries. First, it explores whether various dimensions of nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism can be distinguished. The relations between chauvinism, patriotism, and dimensions of ethnic exclusionism are examined across the different countries. Next, the impact of individual characteristics on nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism is assessed. In particular, this study examines whether the effect of educational attainment on these attitudes varies systematically across countries. Furthermore, it investigates the extent to which differences between countries in the average level of nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism are related to demographic, economic, and political conditions, as well as recent changes in these societal conditions, such as the decline in economic conditions or the increase in asylum applications. By means of multi-level analyses, the effects of individual and societal characteristics on nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism are estimated simultaneously. In addition, the author investigates the intervening effect of related attitudes, such as perceived ethnic threatXVI, 259 p