Testing the group threat theory in the context of Japan: Examining the role of economic conditions in public attitudes toward immigrants

Abstract While the effect of economic conditions on dominant members’ attitudes toward immigrants has been widely supported in intergroup relations research and migration studies, the economic explanation for such an attitude is largely used in studies conducted in Europe and other Western countries. To test whether this explanation is applicable in non-Western contexts, the current study investigated the role of economic conditions on attitudes toward immigrants in Japan based on the group threat theory. Specifically, survey data from three different time points with different economic conditions (i.e., 2000, 2010, and 2018) were analyzed to identify the pattern of change in the attitudes. In addition, the effects of a macro-level (i.e., gross domestic product per capita) an individual-level economic indicator (i.e., perceived likelihood of unemployment), as well as demographic characteristics (i.e., age and social class) were also examined. Using a cross-sectional design, data were analyzed through multilevel modeling. The results revealed that the participants in 2010 (i.e., the year with the worst economic conditions) were more likely to oppose immigration than those in other years, yet the variance in the outcome was not necessarily explained by the economic indicators. This article, then, discusses possible explanations for the limited roles of economic conditions on attitudes toward immigrants among Japanese participants in the current study.