Multiple routes to immigration scepticism: The association between individual grievances and anti‐immigrant attitudes in Canada, Germany and the USA

Abstract

AbstractThis article theorizes and tests the association between the ego‐tropic and socio‐tropic dimensions of three sets of grievances, that is, economic, value‐based and security‐related, and anti‐immigrant attitudes using data from an original survey fielded in Canada, Germany and the USA. Our analysis confirms the presence of multiple paths towards anti‐immigration attitudes. Our contribution is threefold. First, we offer a nuanced understanding of the complexity of immigration scepticism and shed light on its different dimensions, including the under‐researched personal value‐based and collective security‐related. Second, we make an empirical contribution by confirming the multi‐faceted nature of anti‐immigrant attitudes using data from an original survey tailored specifically to our research questions. This allows us to examine each set of grievances independently of each other and independently of anti‐immigrant attitudes. Third, our survey enables us to identify country‐specific dynamics by testing the relationship between individual grievances and anti‐immigrant attitudes in diverse political settings.