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Group-threat and attitudes toward immigrants: a comparative, multi-level examination of the sources of prejudice

Kunovich, Robert M.

Abstract Details

2001, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Sociology.

Although scholars have identified key individual characteristics that increase ethnic and racial prejudice, we do not understand how the social context influences the relationship between individual characteristics and prejudice and why some countries have higher levels of prejudice than others. I address this problem by conducting a cross-national, multi-level study of prejudice. At the individual-level, I examine the effects of social class and stratification position on anti-immigrant prejudice. At the country-level, I examine how group-threat from immigration, economic hardship, and resources and economic development generate country differences in the effects of social class and stratification position on prejudice and country differences in levels of prejudice. I examine the individual and country-level sources of anti-immigrant prejudice using data from the International Social Survey Programme, which were collected in 1995, from Eastern and Western Europe. I use hierarchical linear modeling techniques to analyze these data.

Social class and stratification position play key roles in the development of prejudice. Blue-collar workers, the unemployed, and those not in the labor force are more prejudiced than white-collar workers and students. Education and income decrease prejudice. The effects of social class and stratification position differ across countries. Differences in effects are due partly to economic hardship, which reduces the prejudice gap between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Economic development also affects the social class slopes -- it intensifies the effect of social class on prejudice. Anti-immigrant prejudice is higher in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe because of economic hardship and the relatively high level of resources among those competing with immigrants. Compositional differences between countries also explain some of the country differences in levels of prejudice. Finally, immigration, economic hardship, and their interaction explain country differences in prejudice across Western Europe -- as economic hardship increases, immigration has an increasingly positive effect on prejudice. Overall, this research contributes to a larger project in the social sciences that seeks to understand the sources of prejudice and support for minority rights.

Kazimierz M. Slomczynski (Advisor)
222 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kunovich, R. M. (2001). Group-threat and attitudes toward immigrants: a comparative, multi-level examination of the sources of prejudice [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382029068

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kunovich, Robert. Group-threat and attitudes toward immigrants: a comparative, multi-level examination of the sources of prejudice. 2001. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382029068.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kunovich, Robert. "Group-threat and attitudes toward immigrants: a comparative, multi-level examination of the sources of prejudice." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2001. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1382029068

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)