You Aren’t One of Us! Definitions of National Identity and Their Effects on Anti-Immigrant Attitudes

• In Event: 594 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Anti-immigrant Sentiments

Abstract

Despite the continued use of social identity theory (SIT) to explain the relationship between group identities and anti-immigrant sentiment in European countries, few, if any, non-experimental studies have examined how the salience of group boundaries shape expressed attitudes toward immigrant populations. This is problematic given that SIT assumes that relevance is one of the key mechanisms that determines whether individuals will engage in discriminatory behaviors toward outgroup members. To correct for this, we explore the impact of national identities on anti-immigrant attitudes as moderated by identity relevance and contextual cues. Using a combination of latent class analyses and hierarchical linear models to analyze data from the 2004 ISSP National Identity II module and the 2008/2009 European Values for 19 countries, we directly test these causal mechanisms by examining the degree to which the effect of national identities on anti-immigrant sentiment are moderated by: 1) the criteria used to define the boundaries of the national ingroup and the relative inclusivity/exclusivity of different forms of national identity, and 2) the situational relevance of these national identities as based on the percentage of foreign-born persons residing within a given country. We find that the relative exclusivity of national ingroup boundaries and percentage of foreign-born individuals residing within a given country directly shape anti-immigrant and produce higher levels of anti-immigrant sentiment and perceptions of group threat. Taken together, these results indicate that the relevance of particular social identities—here, national identities—plays a key role in shaping anti-immigrant attitudes.

Authors

• Nate Breznau, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences

• John Taylor Danielson, University of Arizona