Chilean Public Opinion toward Immigration: What shapes perceptions and attitudes towards immigrants?

• In Event: Tackling contentious international issues: Public Opinion and international affairs in Latin America

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of attitudes toward immigration in Chile. The discussion focuses on four questions. First, How Chileans perceive the costs and benefits of receiving immigrants?, Secondly, Does attitudes toward immigration vary systematically with characteristics such as age, education, and urban/rural location? Third, how does Chile compare to its Latin American counterparts in its views? And fourth, are attitudes changing over time? We believe that negative attitudes towards immigrants decrease if they are skilled workers and increase in immigrants with few job qualifications.
In addition, we want to prove an economic hypothesis of migration: anti-immigration attitudes will be stronger if they coincide with perceptions of the country's economic decline.

Author

• Miguel A López Varas, Universidad de Chile