Economic forces and anti-immigrant attitudes in Western Europe: a paradox in search of an explanation

Greater economic hardship is widely conceived as conducive to higher of majority hostility towards minority groups. Research in the classical social- tradition as well as data on political trends support such a view. , more recent survey and experimental findings cast doubt on the economic model of out-group hostility. O’Connell examines responses to sections the European Social Survey that suggest that economic deprivation is still linked out-group hostility, and argues that this position is contradicted by recent trends anti-immigrant politics: electoral support for far-right parties has been more in wealthier and more materially secure societies than in poorer ones. He an explanation for this apparent paradox, suggesting that increased economic has both direct and indirect effects on a society, and that these effects run to each other. As economic scarcity decreases, concerns over economic decline but new concerns related to integration emerge, particularly as the becomes more attractive to migrants.