One Fits All? Explaining Support for Immigration Control in a Group Comparative Perspective

By using data from a factorial survey we analyze the role of economic and cultural threat in explaining support for immigration control in Switzerland. Threat is modeled more directly than in many previous studies: Economic threat is assumed to be high when migrants and natives have similar levels of education, and perceived cultural threat is assumed to be high when nationally pride natives are confronted with migrants unwilling to adapt culturally. Furthermore, it is analyzed whether threat varies across immigrant groups that differ in size, aggregate skill level and cultural background. Results show that both economic and cultural threat play a role in explaining support for immigration control. In line with previous studies economic threat seems to be an issue for highly-skilled natives when they are confronted with large groups of migrants with similar skill levels to their own. Likewise, nationally pride natives seem threatened not only by culturally distant migrants, but also by large migrant groups who are not willing to adapt culturally while not being dissimilar enough to stay culturally apart. Further studies are necessary to examine whether these patterns generalize to other countries and immigration groups.