Economic threat and welfare chauvinism: A cross‐regional analysis on the relationship between economic context and objective and subjective economic vulnerability

Welfare chauvinism, that is, the desire to limit immigrants' opportunity to be awarded the benefits and services of the welfare state, has become a prevalent social phenomenon across European societies over the last decades. Studies have previously explored how subjective and objective economic vulnerability can be related to welfare chauvinistic attitudes. Likewise, studies have also explored how the economic context shapes these attitudes. However, this study goes one step further by exploring the interplay between individual economic experiences and the context these individuals live in. It is hypothesized that economic threat perceptions can be maximized in situations where one struggles economically, while at the same time living in a more economically deprivated region, which in turn can be associated with welfare chauvinism. The study uses the European Social Survey (ESS) from 2016–2017 to examine this relationship across 115 European regions (NUTS 2) using cross level interactions. By exploring the relationship on a regional level, it also increases the statistical powers in the models, as well as measuring a reality that is closer to the individuals lived lives. The study finds limited evidence for a relationship between individual level economic vulnerability and the economic context. It is argued that the lack of significant findings may be explained by self‐interest perspective among the employed, and group empathy among the unemployed.