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The study examines change over time in sentiments toward out-group populations in European societies. For this purpose data were compiled from four waves of the Eurobarometer surveys for 12 countries that provided detailed and comparable information on attitudes toward foreigners between 1988 and 2000. A series of multilevel hierarchical linear models were estimated to examine change in the effects of individual- and country-level sources of threat on anti-foreigner sentiment. The analysis shows a substantial rise in anti-foreigner sentiment between 1988 and 2000 in all 12 countries. The rise in anti-foreigner sentiment was steep in the early period (between 1988 and 1994), then leveled off after that. Although anti-foreigner sentiment tends to be more pronounced in places with a large proportion of foreign populations and where economic conditions are less prosperous, the effects of both factors on anti-foreigner sentiment have not changed over time. The analysis also shows that anti-foreigner sentiment is more pronounced in places with greater support for right-wing extreme parties. The impact of individual-level socioeconomic characteristics such as education has remained stable over the years, but the effect of political ideology has increased. The meaning and significance of the findings are discussed within the context of European societies.
Students of ethnic inequality and race relations have long been interested in understanding the social mechanisms underlying the emergence of prejudice and discrimination against subordinate ethnic minorities. Consequently, research on sources of prejudice, discriminatory attitudes, xenophobia, and hostility toward ethnic minorities has grown considerably over the years, and the literature on the topic has become substantial. Currently, studies on attitudes toward minorities and out-group populations have become available for a wide range of countries including societies that until recently had been considered "ethnically homogeneous" (e.g., for a detailed review of the literature on Europe, see Baumgartl and Favell 1995; Pettigrew 1998).
There are two major bodies of sociological research on sources of discriminatory attitudes toward out-group populations. The overwhelming majority of studies on the issue focus on the impact of the social, economic, demographic, and sociopsychological attributes of individuals on discriminatory attitudes toward minorities within single countries. This first body of research shows that individuals who are socially and economically vulnerable, and hence more threatened by the presence of minorities, are more likely to...