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Easing the Heavy Hand: Humanitarian Concern, Empathy, and Opinion on Immigration

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  • Newman, Benjamin J.
  • Hartman, Todd K.
  • Lown, Patrick L.
  • Feldman, Stanley

Abstract

The bulk of the public opinion research on immigration identifies the factors leading to opposition to immigration. In contrast, we focus on a previously unexplored factor yielding support for immigration: humanitarianism. Relying upon secondary analysis of national public opinion survey data and an original survey experiment, we demonstrate that humanitarian concern significantly decreases support for restrictive immigration policy. Results from our survey experiment demonstrate that in an information environment evoking both threat and countervailing humanitarian concern regarding immigration, the latter can and does override the former. Last, our results point to the importance of individual differences in empathy in moderating the effects of both threat and humanitarian inducements.

Suggested Citation

  • Newman, Benjamin J. & Hartman, Todd K. & Lown, Patrick L. & Feldman, Stanley, 2015. "Easing the Heavy Hand: Humanitarian Concern, Empathy, and Opinion on Immigration," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 583-607, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:45:y:2015:i:03:p:583-607_00
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    Cited by:

    1. David Ongenaert, 2019. "Refugee Organizations’ Public Communication: Conceptualizing and Exploring New Avenues for an Underdeveloped Research Subject," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(2), pages 195-206.
    2. Laurence, James & McGinnity, Frances & Murphy, Keire, 2024. "Attitudes towards immigration and refugees in Ireland: Understanding recent trends and drivers," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number JR5.
    3. Hager, Anselm & Veit, Susanne, 2019. "Attitudes Toward Asylum Seekers: Evidence from Germany," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 83(2), pages 412-422.
    4. Alrababa'h, Ala' & Dillon, Andrea Balacar & Williamson, Scott & Hainmueller, Jens & Hangartner, Dominik & Weinstein, Jeremy, 2021. "Attitudes toward migrants in a highly impacted economy: evidence from the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 102980, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Federica Genovese, 2023. "Empathy, geography and immigration: Political framing of sea migrant arrivals in European media," European Union Politics, , vol. 24(4), pages 771-784, December.

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