Predisposing Factors and Situational Triggers: Exclusionary Reactions to Immigrant Minorities

TLDR

Opposition to immigrant minorities in Western Europe, particularly The Netherlands, is examined. The study tests predictions from realistic conflict and social identity theories and investigates how predisposing factors and situational triggers interact to shape political responses. The authors conducted three experiments embedded in a 1997–98 Dutch public opinion survey of 2007 participants, measuring the comparative impact of economic and national identity threats. Results show that national identity concerns outweigh economic concerns in driving exclusionary reactions, and situational triggers further mobilize support beyond predisposed constituencies.

Abstract

This paper examines the bases of opposition to immigrant minorities in Western Europe, focusing on The Netherlands. The specific aim of this study is to test the validity of predictions derived from two theories—realistic conflict, which emphasizes considerations of economic well-being, and social identity, which emphasizes considerations of identity based on group membership. The larger aim of this study is to investigate the interplay of predisposing factors and situational triggers in evoking political responses. The analysis is based on a series of three experiments embedded in a public opinion survey carried out in The Netherlands ( n =2007) in 1997–98. The experiments, combined with parallel individual-level measures, allow measurement of the comparative impact of both dispositionally based and situationally triggered threats to economic well-being and to national identity at work. The results show, first, that considerations of national identity dominate those of economic advantage in evoking exclusionary reactions to immigrant minorities and, second, that the effect of situational triggers is to mobilize support for exclusionary policies above and beyond the core constituency already predisposed to support them.