Contact Reduces Immigration-Related Fears for Leftist but Not for Rightist Voters
View Researcher's Other CodesDisclaimer: The provided code links for this paper are external links. Science Nest has no responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of these links. Also, by downloading this code(s), you agree to comply with the terms of use as set out by the author(s) of the code(s).
Authors | Jonathan Homola, Margit Tavits |
Journal/Conference Name | COMPARATIVE POLITICAL STUDIES |
Paper Category | Social Sciences |
Paper Abstract | How does contact with nonnatives affect immigration-related fears? While there is strong general support for the argument that intergroup contact decreases intergroup prejudice and fear, previous research arrives at mixed conclusions when applying this argument to the study of natives’ attitudes toward immigrants. We propose that people’s preexisting partisan affinities condition the effect of contact, which may explain the mixed findings. Building on the literature on motivated reasoning, we argue that contact reduces immigration-related threats among leftist voters, but have a threat-increasing or no effect among rightist voters. We find support for our argument using original surveys conducted in two very different contexts: the United States and Germany. |
Date of publication | 2018 |
Code Programming Language | R |
Comment |