Nationalistic Attitudes and Ethnic Exclusionism in a Comparative Perspective: An Empirical Study of Attitudes Toward the Country and Ethnic Immigrants in 22 countries

Abstract

The start of the twenty-first century is characterized by massive international migration, intense ethnic conflicts and ethnic antagonism. Attitudes toward the ethnic in-group and toward ethnic out-groups have gained increasing relevance as a research topic in the social sciences. In this cross-national comparative study I examined the attitudes of ethnic majority populations toward their own country and the national in-group (nationalistic attitudes) and their attitudes toward ethnic minorities and immigrants (ethnic exclusionism). Hypotheses derived from various sociological and social psychological theories, such as social identity theory and realistic group conflict theory, were tested with data of the International Social Survey Programme, gathered in 1995 in 22 countries. To assess the degree of cross-national equivalence of the survey measurements, I applied structural equation modelling and conducted multi-sample analyses. First, I explored whether various dimensions of nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism can be distinguished.