The impact of intra-EU migration on welfare chauvinism

Abstract

We examine whether intra-EU migration affects welfare chauvinistic attitudes, i.e. the idea that immigrants’ access to the welfare system should be restricted. According to the in-group/out-group theory, migration can unleash feelings of insecurity and thus trigger welfare chauvinism. According to intergroup contact theory, welfare chauvinism should decrease when immigration is higher, because contact reduces prejudice and softens anti-immigrant stances. We test these theories using data from the European Social Survey 2008/2009, supplemented with country-level data, and analyse these data using a multilevel ordered logit approach. We find a negative relation between intra-EU immigration and welfare chauvinism, supporting the intergroup contact theory: in countries with more intra-EU migration, welfare chauvinism tends to be lower. Furthermore, the higher the percentage of East European immigrants compared to other EU immigrants, the higher the level of welfare chauvinism.

Healthcare chauvinism during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Public opinion surveys indeed demonstrate that substantial shares of the European population support welfare chauvinism (Bay and Pedersen 2006;van Oorschot 2006;Reeskens and van Oorschot 2012;Cappelen and Midtbø 2016;Ford and Kootstra 2017) and do not support both continued immigration and universal welfare (Kulin, Eger, and Hjerm 2016). Contra often-voiced fears that these results render immigration and universal welfare as incompatible, higher population shares of immigrants and their descendants do not seem to drive welfare chauvinistic attitudes (Mewes and Mau 2012;Reeskens and van Oorschot 2012;Cappelen and Peters 2018). Nevertheless, many welfare states have restricted access to benefits for immigrants and especially refugees over the past decades, among them Canada, Germany, Finland, France, the Netherlands, or Switzerland (OECD 2018;Andersen, Dustmann, and Landersø 2019).…”

Do Immigrants Move to Welfare? Subnational Evidence from Switzerland

“…For instance, the United States and United Kingdom have barred categories of immigrants from accessing welfare programs for up to five years after arrival. In the European Union, concerns over welfare migration have accelerated the rise of welfare chauvinism -a political ideology that supports redistribution but seeks to exclude new arrivals from welfare entitlements (Andersen and Bjørklund, 1990;Mau and Burkhardt, 2009;Hjorth, 2016;Cappelen and Peters, 2018). In response, several countries have cut benefit rates for third country nationals, while others have engaged in public battles with the European Court of Justice over the ability to restrict immigrants' access to social programs (Heindlmaier and Blauberger, 2017;Ruhs and Palme, 2018;Blauberger et al, 2018;Martinsen and Werner, 2019).…”

Welfare solidarities in the age of mass migration: evidence from European Social Survey 2016

“…The second theoretical perspective, the concept of welfare chauvinism, also shares the notion that people are less willing to share resources with 'outsiders' compared to their 'in-group'. However, rather than undermining support for the welfare state as a whole (and especially for the universal and contributory entitlements), people are expected to oppose the extension of welfare rights to migrants (Cappelen and Peters 2018). 1 With growing migration, it is argued, natives, especially those that rely heavily on the welfare state, increasingly fear that their share of the pie is being contested by a new group (see the 'group competition' theory, e.g., Blalock 1967;Coser 1956).…”

“…At the country level, more comprehensive welfare states can create a society showing more solidarity that includes migrants, for example because people feel less competition with migrants due to the guarantee of social security (van Oorschot and Uunk 2007). Similarly, in more diverse societies, negative stereotypes diminish due to increasing inter-group contact, leading to a more accommodating attitude towards migrants' social rights (Cappelen and Peters 2018;Mewes and Mau 2013). We therefore expect that a sizable share of people in European countries will simultaneously be in favour of a comprehensive welfare state and open to migration, thus resulting in an 'extended solidarity'.…”