All Welcome Here? Attitudes towards Muslim Migrants in Europe

Abstract

Islam is becoming an increasingly prevalent religion in Europe due to large inflows of Muslims over the last few decades. Previous social survey research suggests that the European public is critical of immigration from Muslim countries with concerns relating to integration and security. Using the 7th round of the European Social Survey and linking it to other data sources, this paper examines whether threat hypotheses can explain anti‐Muslim sentiment in Europe. The study finds that opposition to Muslims is significantly higher than opposition to migrants in general, particularly in Eastern and Central Europe. The threat hypothesis is not supported on a country level as counties with higher “stock” of Muslim population and higher number of Islamic terrorist attacks are more welcoming towards further Muslim immigration. Furthermore, the study finds that women are more opposed to Muslim immigration than men. The wider implications of these findings and alternative explanations are discussed.

Local responses to hostility to new asylum seeker centres in Norway

“…Our main argument is that the conflict and tension arising when asylum seekers arrive can inform us about who the local communities receiving them want to be. Previous research clearly shows that opinions on immigration and asylum seekers are divided and that the field of local asylum policies is conflict‐ridden (Blinder, 2013; Bygnes, 2020; Gusciute et al, 2021). However, by shifting attention away from “our” relationship with “them” towards the effect of these responses on the notion of “us,” however, we contribute to the literature a discussion of how decent behaviour on immigration issues informs this case.…”

“…Previous research shows that public reactions to immigration vary according to the perceived skill level and ethnic and religious origins of the immigrants imagined by survey respondents (Blinder, 2013). The European public is particularly critical of immigrants from Muslim countries (Gusciute et al, 2021) and asylum seekers (Blinder, 2013). However, a tendency to perceive Syrians as more deserving than other asylum seekers has been recorded since 2015 (Kyriakidou, 2021).…”

“…Notwithstanding individuals’ diverse and conflicting views on immigration (Blinder, 2013; Gusciute et al, 2021), and initial hostile reactions to new asylum seeker centres (Bygnes, 2020), we bear in mind that scholars on public opinion on immigration have also stressed the prevalent social norm against prejudice in contemporary Western Europe (Blinder et al, 2013). For example, through their survey studies in Britain and Germany, Blinder et al (2013) have demonstrated that many respondents internalize a motivation to control prejudice to comply with this wide‐ranging social norm of anti‐racism in Western Europe.…”

“…Scholarly attention to these responses is commonly directed towards the host communities and their (non‐)relationship with their guests; their immediate reactions (see, e.g. Bygnes, 2017, 2020; Gusciute et al, 2021; Jumbert, 2020; Sætrang, 2016) and subsequent settlement and integration (see, e.g. Bygnes & Strømsø, forthcoming; Greenspan et al, 2018; Bakker et al, 2016).…”

Anti-immigrant Attitudes in the European Union: What Role for Values?

“…Therefore, in this paper we raise a question whether not only economic circumstances, but also individual values can be associated with anti-immigration sentiments in the EU. This relationship has scarcely been explored outside the matters of regional disparities (Czaika, Di Lillo 2018) and ethnic or religious affiliations of immigrants (Ramos et al 2021;Gusciute et al 2020). Therefore we seek to provide a closer look at individual values as a basis of anti-immigrant feelings.…”