Socioeconomic context and welfare nationalism in the Euro area following the Great Recession

Abstract

This study examined the association between the socioeconomic context of the Eurozone countries in the post-Great Recession era and attitudes of solidarity towards immigrants among the general population. A multilevel analysis was conducted using data from Round 8 (2016) of the European Social Survey as well as Eurostat and OECD statistics. Specifically, we assessed the link between the share of people at risk of poverty/social exclusion in 2016 and citizens´ support for excluding immigrants from the rights to social services. Our results, in agreement with theories explaining that anxiety over-scarcity compromises out-group solidarity, confirmed the existence of such a relationship. Additional findings, however, suggested that some factors, such as holding individual-level universalism values, or the persistence of hardship during the recession recovery period (2011-2016) at country-level, may have had a protective role against chauvinistic attitudes. Recommendations for practice and research are discussed.