 Who Are “the Immigrants”? Beliefs About Immigrant Populations and Anti‐Immigration Attitudes in the United States and BritainKirill Zhirkov Social Science Quarterly, 2021, vol. 102, issue 1, 228-237 Abstract: Objectives There is important variation in beliefs about immigration within the publics of immigrant‐receiving societies but empirical social research has largely overlooked it. The “imagined immigration” concept aims to bring these beliefs back in as an important component of public attitudes toward immigrants. It also offers a new perspective on the political conflict around immigration that persists despite the consensus on desired qualities of potential immigrants among citizens in industrial democracies. Methods I review the imagined immigration concept and present new empirical evidence in its favor using original survey studies in the United States and Britain. Results I describe respondents’ beliefs about immigrants, demonstrate their association with partisanship, and confirm that these beliefs are significantly related to perceptions of immigration as harmful—even when controlled for partisanship, ideology, and ethnocentrism. Conclusion I corroborate the foundations of the imagined immigration concept and discuss its promise and limitations. Date: 2021 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:102:y:2021:i:1:p:228-237 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.