Antipathy and sympathy towards immigrants of different originsThe case of Tenerife

  1. Buraschi, Daniel 1
  2. Godenau, Dirk 1
  3. Cáceres Hernández, José Juan 1
  1. 1 Universidad de La Laguna
    info
    Universidad de La Laguna

    San Cristobal de La Laguna, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01r9z8p25

    Geographic location of the organization Universidad de La Laguna
Journal:
Papers: revista de sociología

ISSN: 0210-2862,  2013-9004

Year of publication: 2025

Volume: 110

Issue: 3

Type: Article

DOI: 10.5565/REV/PAPERS.3324 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openOpen access editor

More publications in: Papers: revista de sociología

Abstract

The present study investigates the perceptions of antipathy and sympathy toward immigrant groups among the native-born population of Tenerife, Canary Islands. A logit model is used not only to estimate the probabilities of antipathy, indifference, and sympathy for each group of immigrant origin, but also to quantify probabilistically the joint effects of different individual attributes on these social perceptions. Results, based on survey data from 479 respondents, show that there are significant differences in attitudes depending on the immigrants’ origin. Antipathy is most commonly directed toward immigrants from Eastern Europe and North Africa, while sympathy is more frequently expressed for individuals from Latin America, the European Union, and sub-Saharan Africa. Key pregdictors of antipathy include older age, lower educational attainment, active labour market participation, Catholic religious affiliation, and right-wing political ideology. In contrast, sex and residential area show minimal influence on attitudes. The study also identifies distinct extreme profiles characterized by combinations of these attributes, demonstrating substantial variation in the likelihood of antipathy or sympathy across different immigrant groups. Findings support the differentiated threat model, which posits that perceived threats and their impact vary among population segments based on group characteristics. The results underscore the importance of tailored social policies that address the specific concerns and perceptions associated with different immigrant communities. Future research should incorporate dynamic social contexts and qualitative insights to further explore the underlying mechanisms of intergroup attitudes.

Bibliographic References

  • Abdelaaty, Lamis and Steele, Liza G. (2020). “Explaining Attitudes Toward Refugees and Immigrants in Europe”. Political Education, 70 (1), 110–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321720950217
  • An, Brian (2015). “The Role of Social Desirability Bias and Racial/Ethnic Composition on the Relation Between Education and Attitude Toward Immigration Restrictionism”. The Social Science Journal, 52 (4), 459–467. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2014.09.005
  • Barroso-González, Clara; Abasolo-Alesson, Ignacio and Cáceres-Hernández, José Juan (2016). “Health Inequalities by Socioeconomic Characteristics in Spain: The Economic Crisis Effect”. International Journal for Equity in Health, 15 (62), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0346-4
  • Buraschi, Daniel and Godenau, Dirk (2020). La Percepción de la Inmigración en Tenerife. Cabildo de Tenerife. https://doi.org/10.25145/r.obitfact.2019.14
  • Borkowska, Magdalena and Laurence, James (2024). “The Role of Ethnic Diversity and Residential Segregation in Shaping Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Support for Brexit”. Political Studies, 0 (0), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217241261748
  • Campbell, Donald (1965). “Ethnocentric and Other Altruistic Motives”. In: D. Levine (ed.). Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (pp. 283–311). University of Nebraska Press.
  • Cea D’Ancona, María Ángeles (2015). “Los efectos de la crisis económica en la molduración y evolución de la opinión pública española ante la inmigración”. Migraciones. Publicación del Instituto Universitario de Estudios sobre Migraciones, (37), 29–52. https://doi.org/10.14422/mig.i37.y2015.002
  • Cebolla-Boado, Hector and González-Ferrer, Amparo (2016). ¿Ha podido más la crisis o la convivencia?: sobre las actitudes de los españoles ante la inmigración. Fundación Alternativas.
  • Ceobanu, Alin and Escandell, Xavier (2010). “Comparative analyses of public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration using multinational survey data: A review of theories and research”. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 309–328. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102651
  • Coenders, Marcel and Scheepers, Peer (2003). “The Effect of Education on Nationalism and Ethnic Exclusionism: An International Comparison”. Political Psychology, 24 (2), 313–343. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00330
  • Davidov, Eldad and Semyonov, Moshe (2017). “Attitudes Toward Immigrants iIn European Societies”. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 58 (5), 359–366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020715217732183
  • De Coninck, David (2019). “Migrant Categorizations and European Public Opinion: Diverging Attitudes Towards Immigrants and Refugees”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46 (9), 1667–1686. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1694406
  • Dixon, Jeffrey (2006). “The Ties That Bind and Those That Don’t: Toward Reconciling Group Threat and Contact Theories of Prejudice”. Social Forces, 84 (4), 2179–2204. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2006.0085
  • Esses, Victoria M.; Jackson, Linne M. and Armstrong, Tamara L. (1998). “Intergroup Competition and Attitudes Toward Immigrants and Immigration: An Instrumental Model of Group Conflict”. Journal of Social Issues, 54 (4), 699–724. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1998.tb01244.x
  • Ford, Robert (2011). “Acceptable and Unacceptable Immigrants: How Opposition to Immigration in Britain Is Affected by Migrants' Region of Origin”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 37 (7), 1017–1037. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2011.572423
  • García-Muñoz, Teresa María and Milgram-Baleix, Juliette (2021). “Explaining Attitudes Towards Immigration: The Role of Economic Factors”. Politics and Governance, 9 (4), 159–173. https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v9i4.4487
  • González-Enríquez, Carmen; Mariscal-de-Gante, Álvaro and Rinken, Sebastian (2024). “Las actitudes hacia la inmigración y los inmigrantes en España: Una tipología”. Papers, 109 (3), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/papers.3261
  • Hainmueller, Jens and Hiscox, Michael J. (2007). “Educated Preferences: Explaining Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe”. International Organization, 61 (2), 399–442. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020818307070142
  • Hellwig, Timothy and Sinno, Abdulkader H. (2017). “Different Groups, Different Threats: Public Attitudes Towards Immigrants”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43 (3), 339–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2016.1202749
  • Igartua, Juan José and Muñiz, Carlos (2004). “Encuadres noticiosos e inmigración. Un análisis de contenido de la prensa y televisión españolas”. Zer. Revista de Estudios de Comunicación, 9 (16), 87–104. https://doi.org/10.1387/zer.5311
  • Jackman, Mary R. and Muha, Michael J. (1984). “Education Aand Intergroup Attitudes: Moral Enlightenment, Superficial Democratic Commitment, or Ideological Refinement?”. American Sociological Review, 751–769. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095528
  • Janus, Alexander L. (2010). “The Influence of Social Desirability Pressures on Expressed Immigration Attitudes”. Social Science Quarterly, 91 (4), 928–946. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00742.x
  • Jedinger, Alexander and Eisentraut, Marcus (2020). “Exploring the Differential Effects of Perceived Threat on Attitudes Toward Ethnic Minority Groups in Germany”. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2895. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02895
  • Kaufmann, Eric and Harris, Gareth (2015). “‘White Flight’ or Positive Contact? Local Diversity and Attitudes to Immigration in Britain”. Comparative Political Studies, 48 (12), 1563–1590. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414015581684
  • Kehrberg, Jason E. (2007). “Public Opinion on Immigration in Western Europe: Economics, Tolerance, and Exposure”. Comparative European Politics, 5, 264–281. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110099
  • Kesler, Alan and Freeman, Gary (2005). “Public Opinion in the EU on Immigration from Outside the Community”. Journal of Common Market Studies, 43 (4), 825–850. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5965.2005.00598.x
  • McDaniel, Eric L.; Nooruddin, Irfane and Faith Shortle, Allyson (2011). “Divine Boundaries: How Religion Shapes Citizens’ Attitudes Toward Immigrants”. American Politics Research, 39 (1), 205–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X10371300
  • Meuleman, Bart; Abts, Kohen; Slootmaeckers, Kohen and Meeusen, Cecil (2019). “Differentiated Threat and the Genesis of Prejudice: Group-Specific Antecedents of Homonegativity, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, and Anti-Immigrant Attitudes”. Social Problems, 66 (2), 222–244. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spy002
  • Morera, María Dolores; Marichal, Francisco Antonio; Quiles, María Nieves; Betancor, Verónica; Rodríguez, Ricardo; Rodríguez, Antonio; Coello, Enrique Antonio and Vargas, Inmaculada (2004). “La percepción de semejanza intergrupal y la identificación con el endogrupo: ¿Incrementa o disminuye el prejuicio?”. Psicothema, 16 (1), 70–75.
  • O’Rourke, K. H. and Sinnott, R. (2006). “The determinants of individual attitudes towards immigration”. European journal of political economy, 22 (4), 838-861. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2005.10.005
  • Pettigrew, Thomas F. and Meertens, Roel W. (1995). “Subtle and Blatant Prejudice in Western Europe”. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 57-75. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420250106
  • Pettigrew, Thomas F.; Wagner, Ulrich and Christ, O. (2007). “Who Opposes Immigration?: Comparing German with North American Findings”. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 4 (1), 19-39. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X07070038
  • Quillian, Lincoln (1995). “Prejudice as a Response to Perceived Group Threat: Population Composition and Anti-Immigrant and Racial Prejudice in Europe”. American Sociological Review, 60 (4), 586-611. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096296
  • Rinken, Sebastian and Mariscal-de-Gante, Álvaro (2024). “Do Dependents Matter? Exploring Multiple Dimensions of Attitudes Toward Immigration and Immigrants”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 50 (16), 3959–3980. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2361072
  • Rinken, Sebastian; Pasadas-del-Amo, Sara; Rueda, María and Cobo, Beatriz (2021). “No Magic Bullet: Estimating Anti-Immigrant Sentiment and Social Desirability Bias with the Item-Count Technique”. Quality and Quantity, 55 (6), 2139–2159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-021-01098-7
  • Rodríguez-Donate, María Carolina and Cáceres-Hernández, José Juan (2007). “Modelos de elección discreta y especificaciones ordenadas: una reflexión metodológica”, Estadística Española, 49 (166), 453–473.
  • Rodríguez-Donate, María Carolina; Cáceres-Hernández, José Juan; Guirao-Pérez, Ginés and Cano-Fernández, Víctor Javier (2009). “Individual Profiles and Wine Consumption Patterns in Tenerife. A Multinomial Logit Model”. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research, 7 (4), 759–769. https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2009074-1090
  • Scheepers, Peer; Gijsberts, Merove and Coenders, Marcel (2002). “Ethnic Exclusionism in European Countries. Public Opposition to Civil Rights for Legal Migrants as a Response To Perceived Ethnic Threat”. European Sociological Review, 18 (1), 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/18.1.17
  • Semyonov, Moshe and Glikman, Anya (2009). “Ethnic Residential Segregation, Social Contacts, and Anti-Minority Attitudes in European Societies”. European Sociological Review, 25 (6), 693–708. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcn075
  • Stephan, Walter G. and Stephan, Cookie W. (2000). “An Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice”. In S. Oskamp (Ed.). Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination (pp. 23-45). Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Theil, Henri (1969). “A Multinomial Extension of the Linear Logit Model”. International Economic Review, 10, 251–259. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2546-8_11
  • Train, Kenneth (2003). Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation. Cambridge University Press.
  • Valentova, Marie and Alieva, Aigul (2014). “Gender Differences in the Perception of Immigration-Related Threats”. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 39, 175–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJINTREL.2013.08.010
  • Wilkes, Rina; Guppy, Neill and Farris, Lily (2008). “‘No Thanks, We’re Full’: Individual Characteristics, National Context, and Changing Attitudes Toward Immigration”. International Migration Review, 42 (2), 302–329. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2008.00126.x
Data source: Dialnet