Negative Attitudes toward Immigrants in Japan and the United States

• In Event: 3251 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 5. Comparative Immigrant Integration

Abstract

Immigration has become a major concern among Japanese and American people. The number of foreign residents in Japan exceeded 2.5 million, and it consists of 2 % of the entire population, which is the highest ever. Due to the rapid increase, some Japanese developed anti-immigration attitudes. Although the United States is called “A Nation of Immigrants,” anti-immigration attitudes seem to be heightened under the new presidency. This research compares Japanese and American people’s attitudes toward immigrants and examines how moral foundations, individualism/collectivism, personality characteristics such as authoritarianism, patriotism, a religious mind, and demographic characteristics affect Japanese and American respondents’ prejudice toward immigrants. The research team developed a survey and administered it in Japan and the United States using online survey companies in 2018. The data were collected from 3177 Americans and 1544 Japanese whose age is between 18 and 39. The results suggested that respondents who claim whether some people were treated differently from others is relevant to their thinking when deciding whether something is right or wrong expressed less negative attitudes toward immigrants in the United States. However, such a pattern was not observed in Japan. Both in Japan and the United States, respondents who claim whether someone did something out of the ordinary is relevant to their thinking expressed more negative attitudes. Even after all variables were entered, Japanese were more prejudiced than Americans. The effects of moral foundations on attitudes toward immigrants vary depending on a country. The result indicated that people in collectivistic culture express bias toward out-group members compared to those in individualistic culture.

Authors

• Daisuke Ito, Toyo University

• Makoto Todoroki, Kanazawa University