Ethnoracist exclusion and anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe: A hybrid model analysis using the European Social Survey, 2002–2016

Abstract

The literature on anti-immigrant sentiment analyzes generalized threat—rooted in a mix of cultural and economic anxieties—but relies on a theoretical foundation based on the study of race. This is puzzling since research on immigration attitudes has developed theoretical and empirical blind spots regarding the relevance of race-ethnicity. This study engages with race theories to show that racialization and symbolic racism constitute a primary axis along which a substantial subset of the European public views immigrants. Using five waves of the European Social Survey (2002–2016) and matched country-level data, the study finds that excluding immigrants based on race-ethnicity distinguishes a sizeable minority in most countries, and is also not isolated to any one region. Further, results provide evidence for the racialization of certain immigrant groups through greater associations between these groups’ presence and anti-immigrant sentiment. Strong and consistent reactions to the Muslim foreign-born population stand out. Finally, ethnoracist exclusionists are the primary agents of such racialization as they exhibit the strongest reactions to racialized groups, having the highest anti-immigrant sentiment. Findings are discussed within the context of assumptions underlying classical threat theories, the cultural, religious, and racialized aspects of anti-Muslim sentiment, and the global and local manifestations of race.