IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2021i10p401-d659420.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Diversity Barometer 2020: Attitudes towards Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in Sweden

Author

Listed:
  • Jimmy Stephen Munobwa

    (Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Fereshteh Ahmadi

    (Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, University of Gävle, 801 76 Gävle, Sweden)

  • Mehrdad Darvishpour

    (School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, P.O. Box 883, 721 23 Västerås, Sweden)

Abstract

Migration is topical in many counties, and attitudes towards immigration and ethnic diversity are volatile. In our longitudinal “Diversity Barometer”, we have studied changes in Swedes’ attitudes towards immigration and ethnic diversity in Sweden since 2005, using a postal questionnaire sent to a random sample of the Swedish population aged 18–75. In this article, we analyzed data from 2020 ( n = 1035) in comparison with previous Diversity Barometer surveys from 2005 to 2018. The findings showed that Swedes had increased contact with immigrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The majority had good experiences of studying or working with people with foreign background, although those with bad experiences had also increased. Attitudes towards immigration and ethnic diversity were more positive in 2020, thereby stopping a negative trend that started with the refugee influx in 2015. Positive attitudes were more established among women, younger people, those with higher education, people living in larger cities and those with more contact with people with foreign background. Sympathizers of political parties closer to the left wing were more positive towards immigration and ethnic diversity. We used political correctness, contact theory, strain theory and theory about group conflict/threats to provide hypothetical explanations for the observed changes in attitudes.

Suggested Citation

  • Jimmy Stephen Munobwa & Fereshteh Ahmadi & Mehrdad Darvishpour, 2021. "Diversity Barometer 2020: Attitudes towards Immigration and Ethnic Diversity in Sweden," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-20, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:401-:d:659420
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/401/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/10/401/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ahmed, Ali M. & Hammarstedt, Mats, 2008. "Discrimination in the rental housing market: A field experiment on the Internet," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 362-372, September.
    2. Mathias Ericson, 2018. "“Sweden Has Been Naïve”: Nationalism, Protectionism and Securitisation in Response to the Refugee Crisis of 2015," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(4), pages 95-102.
    3. Hainmueller, Jens & Hiscox, Michael J., 2007. "Educated Preferences: Explaining Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 399-442, April.
    4. Lina Aldén & Mats Hammarstedt & Emma Neuman, 2015. "Ethnic Segregation, Tipping Behavior, and Native Residential Mobility," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 36-69, March.
    5. Bram Lancee & Sergi Pardos-Prado, 2013. "Group Conflict Theory in a Longitudinal Perspective: Analyzing the Dynamic Side of Ethnic Competition," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 106-131, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Susanne Wallman Lundåsen, 2023. "Intergroup Contacts, Neighborhood Diversity, and Community Trust: the Asymmetrical Impact of Negative and Positive Experiences," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 163-188, March.
    2. Adrián Groglopo & Fereshteh Ahmadi & Jimmy Stephen Munobwa, 2023. "Structural Racism in Sweden: Framing Attitudes towards Immigrants through the Diversity Barometer Study (2005–2022)," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-20, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. S. Rinken & S. Pasadas-del-Amo & M. Rueda & B. Cobo, 2021. "No magic bullet: estimating anti-immigrant sentiment and social desirability bias with the item-count technique," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 2139-2159, December.
    2. Gustafsson, Björn Anders & Österberg, Torun, 2023. "In and Out of Privileged and Disadvantaged Neighborhoods in Sweden – On the Importance of Country of Birth," IZA Discussion Papers 16044, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Davíð Freyr Björnsson & Fredrik Kopsch & Gylfi Zoega, 2018. "Discrimination in the Housing Market as an Impediment to European Labour Force Integration: the Case of Iceland," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 829-847, August.
    4. Helbling, Marc, 2010. "Germanophobia in Switzerland," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Migration, Integration, Transnationalization SP IV 2010-702, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. Saugato Datta & Vikram Pathania, 2016. "For whom does the phone (not) ring? Discrimination in the rental housing market in Delhi, India," WIDER Working Paper Series 055, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Jan Brenner, 2007. "Parental Impact on Attitude Formation - A Siblings Study on Worries about Immigration," Ruhr Economic Papers 0022, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    7. Andreas Steinmayr, 2016. "Exposure to Refugees and Voting for the Far-Right. (Unexpected) Results from Austria," WIFO Working Papers 514, WIFO.
    8. Giovanni Facchini & Anna Maria Mayda & Riccardo Puglisi, 2017. "Illegal immigration and media exposure: evidence on individual attitudes," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-36, December.
    9. Ingrid Gould Ellen & Stephen L. Ross, 2018. "Race and the City," Working Papers 2018-022, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    10. Mariano Bosch & M. Belen Cobacho, 2012. "Discrimination in second-hand consumer markets: evidence from a field experiment," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(17), pages 1727-1730.
    11. Marfouk, Abdeslam, 2013. "Préjugés et fausses idées sur l’immigration et les immigrés, vecteurs de discrimination en matière d’accès à l’emploi [false ideas about immigrants and immigration and discrimination in labor marke," MPRA Paper 47989, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Poutvaara, Panu & Steinhardt, Max Friedrich, 2018. "Bitterness in life and attitudes towards immigration," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 471-490.
    13. Olof Åslund & John Östh & Yves Zenou, 2010. "How important is access to jobs? Old question--improved answer," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 389-422, May.
    14. Ortega, Francesc & Polavieja, Javier G., 2012. "Labor-market exposure as a determinant of attitudes toward immigration," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 298-311.
    15. Tito Boeri & Marta De Philippis & Eleonora Patacchini & Michele Pellizzari, 2015. "Immigration, Housing Discrimination and Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(586), pages 82-114, August.
    16. Paola Conconi & Giovanni Facchini & Max F. Steinhardt & Maurizio Zanardi, 2020. "The political economy of trade and migration: Evidence from the U.S. Congress," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 250-278, July.
    17. Alesina, Alberto & Murard, Elie & Rapoport, Hillel, 2019. "Immigration and Preferences for Redistribution in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 12130, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Massimiliano Agovino & Maria Rosaria Carillo & Nicola Spagnolo, 2022. "Effect of Media News on Radicalization of Attitudes to Immigration," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 318-340, December.
    19. Brunner, Beatrice & Kuhn, Andreas, 2014. "Immigration, Cultural Distance and Natives' Attitudes Towards Immigrants: Evidence from Swiss Voting Results," IZA Discussion Papers 8409, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Simone Schüller, 2016. "The Effects of 9/11 on Attitudes toward Immigration and the Moderating Role of Education," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(4), pages 604-632, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:10:p:401-:d:659420. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.