Relationship between Subjective Religiosity and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes in Europe: Analyzing European Social Survey (ESS) Data
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2024.2.2439Keywords:
migration, anti-immigrant attitudes, subjective religiosity, cultural threat theory, religious compassion theory, European Social SurveyAbstract
The paper examines how subjective religiosity and confessional affiliation are related to anti-immigrant attitudes in European countries at the individual level. Theoretically, the author bases on the cultural threat theory and the religious compassion theory. According to the cultural threat theory, religiosity and confessional affiliation can act as identity markers and form the basis for anti-immigrant attitudes because of a constructed fear of ethno-cultural unity erosion. Religious compassion theory, in contrast, emphasizes that religious individuals tend to share altruistic values, which implies an empathetic attitude towards immigrants as a vulnerable group.
Based on these assumptions, the author puts forward hypotheses and tests them on data from the tenth wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) for 30 European countries (total sample size N = 23,624). The level of subjective religiosity and the respondent’s confessional affiliation were chosen as the main predictors. The dependent variables are built based on responses to two questions that reveal the respondent's willingness to accept immigrants of different origins (of the same ethnic group/race or the group differing from the majority). The main method of analysis was regression modeling; the author evaluates multiple linear models with robust estimates. As a result, it was established that not only the subjective religiosity of the respondent, but also his or her belonging to a certain denomination, as well as the effects of their interaction, show significant correlation with anti-immigrant attitudes. The cultural threat theory demonstrated greater explanatory power, while the predictions associated with the religious compassion theory have not been confirmed.
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