Xenophobia in Europe, testing economic interests and national identity

In this study I have explored xenophobia in Europe, using cross-national attitudinal survey and regression analysis. Two main theories constitute the theoretical framework, one based on economic conditions and one on group belonging and identity. They are tested, using the ISSP study from 2003 with the yearly topic ‘National Identity’, and their relation to the dependent variable, xenophobia, is examined. The regression analysis show the results for a pooled sample of about 20 000 cases from 20 European countries. Economic conditions such as income and unemployment show no statistical significance with xenophobia. Identity issues are connected to national identity and, more exactly, to Anthony D. Smith’s division of national identity to an ethnic and a civic dimension. The ethnic dimension shows a rather strong positive correlation with xenophobia and the civic dimension shows no significance at all. Overall the study has both reliability and validity issues, which reduces the possibility to make certain generalizing statements. The main finding is that ethnic national identity is predominant in determining an individual’s xenophobic attitudes. The study shows rather low total explanation which suggests that xenophobia is a phenomenon either difficult to detect and measure, or that its causes varies from context to context