Individual values, cultural embeddedness, and anti-immigration sentiments: Explaining differences in the effect of values on attitudes toward immigration across Europe

Abstract

During the last decade, many European countries have faced sizeable immigration inflows accompanied by high prevalence of negative sentiments toward immigrants among majority members of the host societies. We propose that basic human values are one important determinant of such negative attitudes, and we seek to explain variation across countries in the strength of the effects of values. Based on Schwartz ' (1992, 1994) basic human value theory, we hypothesize that universalism values are conducive to positive attitudes toward immigration, while conformity-tradition reinforce anti-immigration sentiments. We furthermore hypothesize that these value effects are moderated by two contextual variables. Both value effects are expected to be weaker in countries with a higher level of cultural embeddedness. Furthermore, negative effects of conformity-tradition values are hypothesized to be cushioned by a lower proportion of immigrants in the country. A multilevel analysis of data from 24 countries from the fourth round of the European Social Survey (2008)(2009)

Universalism, conservation and attitudes toward minority groups

“…Several studies demonstrate that individual value priorities, particularly universalism and conservation, are strongly associated with negative attitudes toward immigration. Individuals who prioritize universalism values approve of immigration more whereas those who prioritize values of conservation exhibit more disapproval (Davidov, Meuleman, Billiet, and Schmidt, 2008;Davidov and Meuleman, 2012;Davidov, Meuleman, Schwartz, and Schmidt, 2014). However, the scope of these studies is generally limited to immigrants, and other minority groups are not taken into consideration.…”

“…Empirical studies have provided comprehensive evidence that social and political attitudes such as prejudices are strongly associated with individual value priorities (Sagiv and Schwartz, 1995;Schwartz, 2010;Schwartz, Caprara, and Vecchione, 2010;Vecchione et al, 2014; for a review on the predictive potential of values, see Datler, Jagodzinski, and Schmidt, 2013). Yet to date, most studies have focused on the role of values for explaining attitudes toward immigration or foreigners (Beckers, Siegers, and Kuntz, 2012;Davidov,Meuleman et al, 2008;Davidov and Meuleman, 2012;Davidov et al, 2014;Schiefer, 2013) with a few explaining attitudes toward other minority groups (Muslims: Helbling, 2014; gays and lesbians: Beckers et al, 2012;Kuntz, Davidov, Schwartz, and Schmidt, 2015; for a review see also Sibley and Duckitt, 2008). As a consequence, these studies concentrated solely on attitudes toward these specific outgroups.…”

“…Placing priority on universalism values was associated with an increase in the willingness for outgroup contact (Sagiv and Schwartz, 1995), support for immigration (Davidov and Meuleman, 2012;Davidov, Meuleman et al, 2008;Davidov et al, 2014;Schwartz, 2010), positive attitudes toward Muslims (Pedersen and Hartley, 2012), objection to sexism (Feather and McKee, 2012), approval of homosexuality (Kuntz et al, 2015) and support for left-wing parties which accept or support social equality and tolerance for different living concepts in society (e.g., with regard to different sexual orientations) Piurko, Schwartz, and Davidov, 2011). Conservation values, in turn, were found to be positively correlated with negative attitudes toward immigration (Davidov and Meulemann, 2012;Davidov, Meuleman et al, 2008;Davidov et al, 2014), homosexuality (Kuntz et al, 2015) as well as women and poor people (Chambers et al, 2012). Based on our theoretical considerations, we have derived a number of hypotheses which are presented below.…”

Human values and ideological beliefs as predictors of attitudes toward immigrants across 20 countries: The country‐level moderating role of threat

“…Previous research has highlighted the importance of complex systems of personal beliefs to the understanding of attitudes toward immigrants, with studies considering either Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), or human values. On the one hand, existing empirical evidence suggests that RWA, SDO, and traditional/normative and security values, which emphasize conservatism, obedience to rules, and concern for the stability of society, have a negative relation to perception of immigrants and outgroups in general (Craig & Richeson, ; Cohrs & Stelzl, ; Danso, Sedlovskaya, & Suanda, ; Davidov, Meuleman, Billiet, & Schmidt, ; Davidov, Meuleman, Schwartz, & Schmidt, ; Duckitt & Sibley, ; Esses, Dovidio, Jackson, & Armstrong, ; Pratto, Sidanius, & Levin, ; Vecchione et al, ). On the other hand, values that represent more open‐minded people who strive for knowledge and maturity values, such as universalism and the suprapersonal, are likely to predict positive attitudes toward immigrants (e.g., Davidov et al, ; Vecchione et al, ).…”

“…Most previous studies examining predictors of attitudes toward Islamic fundamentalism and immigration have used European samples only (Claassen & McLaren ; Davidov et al, ; Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, ), which makes it difficult to assess whether the reported findings are specific for Europe or whether they have global implications. In the present article, we use samples from 20 countries with various cultural backgrounds (e.g., Brazil, China, Indonesia, Tukey, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States) to examine the moderation effect of each of the aforementioned country‐level variables.…”