TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘Keep Europe for the Europeans’. The Role of Threat Perceptions and Intergroup Contact for Explaining Attitudes towards Immigrants in Hungary
AU - Bal, Michèlle
AU - Aradi, Eszter
AU - Yerkes, Mara A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/6/4
Y1 - 2024/6/4
N2 - In 2015, the inflow of immigrants to Europe increased dramatically. More than 1 million people fled from wars and conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly affecting transit countries along the Western Balkan route. Of all the transit countries, the Hungarian government was particularly vocal in its negative attitude towards immigrants, launching several anti-immigration campaigns which had a detrimental effect on residents’ hostility towards these immigrants. In this study, we focus on the mechanisms behind this increased hostility in a transit-country context by combining insights from integrated-threat theory and contact theory. We find that perceptions of realistic and symbolic threat increased negative attitudes towards immigrants. Importantly, these threat perceptions were shaped by people’s positions in society and personal circumstances, in combination with their contact with immigrants. Specifically, in the harsh and negative Hungarian context, contact negatively influenced threat perceptions, especially amongst people who were at risk of experiencing negative consequences supposedly caused by the influx of immigrants. This in-depth country case study emphasises the importance of contextualising research findings on attitudes towards immigration in a broader social and political context.
AB - In 2015, the inflow of immigrants to Europe increased dramatically. More than 1 million people fled from wars and conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly affecting transit countries along the Western Balkan route. Of all the transit countries, the Hungarian government was particularly vocal in its negative attitude towards immigrants, launching several anti-immigration campaigns which had a detrimental effect on residents’ hostility towards these immigrants. In this study, we focus on the mechanisms behind this increased hostility in a transit-country context by combining insights from integrated-threat theory and contact theory. We find that perceptions of realistic and symbolic threat increased negative attitudes towards immigrants. Importantly, these threat perceptions were shaped by people’s positions in society and personal circumstances, in combination with their contact with immigrants. Specifically, in the harsh and negative Hungarian context, contact negatively influenced threat perceptions, especially amongst people who were at risk of experiencing negative consequences supposedly caused by the influx of immigrants. This in-depth country case study emphasises the importance of contextualising research findings on attitudes towards immigration in a broader social and political context.
KW - attitudes towards immigrants
KW - Hungary
KW - intergroup contact
KW - realistic threat
KW - socio-demographic variables
KW - symbolic threat
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85200122095&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.54667/ceemr.2024.08
DO - 10.54667/ceemr.2024.08
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85200122095
SN - 2300-1682
VL - 13
SP - 89
EP - 107
JO - Central and Eastern European Migration Review
JF - Central and Eastern European Migration Review
IS - 1
ER -