Political Xenophobia Among European Citizens of Immigrant Origin: Three Quantitative Survey Analyses of German and Comparative European Data from 2010 to 2023

This dissertation addresses the following main research question: What explains political xenophobia in EU-citizens of immigrant origin? EU-citizens of immigrant origin mean individuals who themselves or their parents migrated to their current European country of residence and who have been naturalized in that same country. The concept of political xenophobia is used since unlike other concepts of political animosity it can cover both attitudes and behaviour of individuals in varying degrees of possible aversions. The dissertation consists of three studies that deal with citizens of immigrant origins rejection of other groups of immigrants (co-authored with Prof. Sabrina J. Mayer), their rejection of immigration as a policy and their vote for populist radical right parties in Europe (both single-authored). The studies are thematically located at the intersection between political psychology and political sociology and use established theories from these sub-disciplines. Methodologically, both national cross-sectional data and European comparative trend study data is used, which allows to analyse the research question in different temporal and spatial contexts. The main research question is of high political relevance for two reasons. Firstly, migration scepticism and rejection of immigration are politically highly relevant topics that attract a great deal of attention both in the media and academically. Secondly, this phenomenon appears highly counter-intuitive if one assumes that this form of political animosity is directed against one’s own in-group and, in turn, raises the question of the extent to which the generalisation of people with a history of immigration is adequate. The analyses show that citizens of immigrant origin do not necessarily differ from the autochthonous population of the country in which they live. However, the category ‘migration history’ has different effects on migration-related conflicts. Social identification with foreign groups tends to reduce negative attitudes towards other groups of immigrants while economic concerns are a stronger driver of negative attitudes towards immigration than social identification. Analysing this group should happen with regard to individual’s migration, integration and (political) socialisation experiences in order to properly assess the effects of identification, life circumstances and individual experiences on political behaviour.