The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 Countries
In an increasingly globalized world, anti-immigrant sentiment has become more prevalent. Competitive threat theory suggests that anti-immigrant attitudes increase when adverse economic circumstances intensify competition with immigrants for scarce resources, but past studies using this approach are...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Societies |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/3/52 |
| _version_ | 1818683979774033920 |
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| author | Joonghyun Kwak Michael Wallace |
| author_facet | Joonghyun Kwak Michael Wallace |
| author_sort | Joonghyun Kwak |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In an increasingly globalized world, anti-immigrant sentiment has become more prevalent. Competitive threat theory suggests that anti-immigrant attitudes increase when adverse economic circumstances intensify competition with immigrants for scarce resources, but past studies using this approach are inconclusive. In this study, we investigate the impact of the Great Recession on perceived immigrant threat—an index of seven items measuring attitudes toward immigrants—using the 2013 International Social Survey Program survey. Using multilevel models, we analyze responses from 18,433 respondents nested within 22 countries. We create a country-level measure of the Great Recession Index comprised of four dimensions—the housing crash, the financial crisis, economic decline, and employment loss—and assess its impact on perceived immigrant threat. After controlling for a variety of individual-level and country-level covariates, we find that the Great Recession is positively associated with perceived immigrant threat. We also identify important interaction effects between the Great Recession Index and change in government expenditures, age, educational levels, citizenship, and urbanization. The study contributes to competitive threat theory by showing the effect of the Great Recession in exacerbating anti-immigrant sentiment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T10:43:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bdb058c27735483cad03a051a3c9cc1e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4698 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T10:43:21Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Societies |
| spelling | doaj.art-bdb058c27735483cad03a051a3c9cc1e2022-12-21T21:52:11ZengMDPI AGSocieties2075-46982018-07-01835210.3390/soc8030052soc8030052The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 CountriesJoonghyun Kwak0Michael Wallace1Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USADepartment of Sociology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USAIn an increasingly globalized world, anti-immigrant sentiment has become more prevalent. Competitive threat theory suggests that anti-immigrant attitudes increase when adverse economic circumstances intensify competition with immigrants for scarce resources, but past studies using this approach are inconclusive. In this study, we investigate the impact of the Great Recession on perceived immigrant threat—an index of seven items measuring attitudes toward immigrants—using the 2013 International Social Survey Program survey. Using multilevel models, we analyze responses from 18,433 respondents nested within 22 countries. We create a country-level measure of the Great Recession Index comprised of four dimensions—the housing crash, the financial crisis, economic decline, and employment loss—and assess its impact on perceived immigrant threat. After controlling for a variety of individual-level and country-level covariates, we find that the Great Recession is positively associated with perceived immigrant threat. We also identify important interaction effects between the Great Recession Index and change in government expenditures, age, educational levels, citizenship, and urbanization. The study contributes to competitive threat theory by showing the effect of the Great Recession in exacerbating anti-immigrant sentiment.http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/3/52immigrationpublic attitudescompetitive threat theoryGreat Recessionglobalization |
| spellingShingle | Joonghyun Kwak Michael Wallace The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 Countries Societies immigration public attitudes competitive threat theory Great Recession globalization |
| title | The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 Countries |
| title_full | The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 Countries |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 Countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 Countries |
| title_short | The Impact of the Great Recession on Perceived Immigrant Threat: A Cross-National Study of 22 Countries |
| title_sort | impact of the great recession on perceived immigrant threat a cross national study of 22 countries |
| topic | immigration public attitudes competitive threat theory Great Recession globalization |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/8/3/52 |
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