Increasing global migration streams have multiplied the landscape of possible identities, and can raise fear and opposition as well as compassion and support. Understanding the ways both national majorities in destination countries and immigrants react to these social transformations remains a challenge. The IP addresses thus the following overarching research question:
How and under which circumstances do societal norms of inclusion or exclusion affect attitudes and behavior related to migration among national majorities and immigrants?
We define and measure societal norms broadly to include a) migration policies (e.g., immigration, integration or citizenship policy), b) political discourse as well as c) national majority representations of immigration (Guimond et al., 2014, Gundelach & Manatschal 2017, Koopmans et al. 2005), and assess how these manifestations of norms shape migration-related attitudes and behavior. Three subprojects address different, albeit complementary, aspects of this research question within CH and in an international comparative
perspective.
Bridging theories from political science, social and political psychology, the main contribution of this IP to international debates lies in the articulation of different levels of analysis – including individual, group, and societal factors, as well as their interactions or complex causality (Green & Staerklé 2013) – to further understand the influence of societal norms on nationals’ and immigrants’ attitudes and behavior (e.g., rightwing voting and emigration decisions). We consider the stance of the national majority, but also of immigrant minorities, which are often neglected by this kind of research.
