IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/231507.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When sexual threat cues shape attitudes toward immigrants: the role of insecurity and benevolent sexism

Author

Listed:
  • Sarrasin, Oriane
  • Fasel, Nicole
  • Green, Eva G. T.
  • Helbling, Marc

Abstract

Drawing on psychological and political science research on individuals’ sensitivity to threat cues, the present study examines reactions to political posters that depict male immigrants as a sexual danger. We expect anti-immigrant attitudes to be more strongly predicted by feelings of insecurity or representations of men and women as strong and fragile when individuals are exposed to sexual threat cues than when they are not. Results from two online experiments conducted in Switzerland and Germany largely confirmed these assumptions. Comparing two anti-immigrant posters (general and non-sexual threat vs. sexual threat), Experiment 1 (n = 142) showed that feelings of insecurity were related to an increased support for expelling immigrants from the host country in both cases. However, only in the sexual threat cues condition and among female participants, were perceptions of women as fragile—as measured with benevolent sexism items—related to support for expelling immigrants. Further distinguishing between different forms of violence threat cues, Experiment 2 (n = 181) showed that collective feelings of insecurity were most strongly related to support for expelling immigrants when a male immigrant was presented as a violent criminal. In contrast, benevolent sexist beliefs were related to anti-immigrant stances only when participants were exposed to a depiction of a male immigrant as a rapist. In both cases attitudes were polarized: on the one hand, representations of immigrants as criminals provoked reactance reactions—that is, more positive attitudes—among participants scoring low in insecurity feelings or benevolent sexism. On the other hand, those scoring high in these dimensions expressed slightly more negative attitudes. Overall, by applying social psychological concepts to the study of anti-immigrant political campaigning, the present study demonstrated that individuals are sensitive to specific threat cues in posters.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarrasin, Oriane & Fasel, Nicole & Green, Eva G. T. & Helbling, Marc, 2015. "When sexual threat cues shape attitudes toward immigrants: the role of insecurity and benevolent sexism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 6, pages 1-1.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:231507
    DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/231507/1/Full-text-article-Sarrasin-et-al-When-sexual-threat.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01033?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bechtel, Michael M. & Hainmueller, Jens & Hangartner, Dominik & Helbling, Marc, 2015. "Reality Bites: The Limits of Framing Effects for Salient and Contested Policy Issues," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 683-695, September.
    2. Sniderman, Paul M. & Hagendoorn, Louk & Prior, Markus, 2004. "Predisposing Factors and Situational Triggers: Exclusionary Reactions to Immigrant Minorities," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 98(1), pages 35-49, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Marcel Lubbers & Eva Jaspers, 2011. "A longitudinal study of euroscepticism in the Netherlands: 2008 versus 1990," European Union Politics, , vol. 12(1), pages 21-40, March.
    2. Harald Schoen, 2008. "Identity, Instrumental Self-Interest and Institutional Evaluations," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(1), pages 5-29, March.
    3. Jonathan Knuckey & Myunghee Kim, 2020. "The Politics of White Racial Identity and Vote Choice in the 2018 Midterm Elections," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 101(4), pages 1584-1599, July.
    4. Judith L. Goldstein & Margaret E. Peters, 2014. "Nativism or Economic Threat: Attitudes Toward Immigrants During the Great Recession," International Interactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 376-401, May.
    5. Sebastian Fietkau & Kasper M Hansen, 2018. "How perceptions of immigrants trigger feelings of economic and cultural threats in two welfare states," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(1), pages 119-139, March.
    6. Markaki, Yvonni, 2012. "Sources of anti-immigration attitudes in the United Kingdom: the impact of population, labour market and skills context," ISER Working Paper Series 2012-24, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    7. Claudia N. Avellaneda & Johabed G. Olvera, 2018. "Chief executives’ approval of immigrants: Evidence from a survey experiment of 101 Latin American and Caribbean mayors," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 1(1).
    8. Dražanová, Lenka & Gonnot, Jérôme & Heidland, Tobias & Krüger, Finja, 2022. "Understanding differences in attitudes to immigration: A meta-analysis of individual-level factors," Kiel Working Papers 2235, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    9. Betts,Alexander Milton Stedman & Stierna,Maria Flinder & Omata,Naohiko & Sterck,Olivier Christian Brigitte, 2022. "Social Cohesion and Refugee-Host Interactions : Evidence from East Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9917, The World Bank.
    10. Jack Citrin & John Sides, 2008. "Immigration and the Imagined Community in Europe and the United States," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(1), pages 33-56, March.
    11. Mª Ángeles Cea D’Ancona, 2016. "Immigration as a Threat: Explaining the Changing Pattern of Xenophobia in Spain," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 569-591, May.
    12. Carvalho, Shelby & Dryden-Peterson, Sarah, 2024. "Political economy of refugees: How responsibility shapes the politics of education," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    13. Ellen Quintelier & Yves Dejaeghere, 2008. "Does European Citizenship Increase Tolerance in Young People?," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(3), pages 339-362, September.
    14. Beverelli, Cosimo & Orefice, Gianluca & Rocha, Nadia, 2012. "Spillover Effects and Migrant Employment," Conference papers 332276, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    15. Claire L Adida & Adeline Lo & Melina R Platas, 2019. "Americans preferred Syrian refugees who are female, English-speaking, and Christian on the eve of Donald Trump’s election," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, October.
    16. Cigdem Kentmen-Cin & Cengiz Erisen, 2017. "Anti-immigration attitudes and the opposition to European integration: A critical assessment," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(1), pages 3-25, March.
    17. Facchini, Giovanni & Margalit, Yotam & Nakata, Hiroyuki, 2022. "Countering public opposition to immigration: The impact of information campaigns," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    18. Syon P. Bhanot & Daniel J. Hopkins, 2020. "Partisan polarization and resistance to elite messages: Results from survey experiments on social distancing," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 3(2).
    19. Yvonni Markaki & Simonetta Longhi, 2012. "What Determines Attitudes to Immigration in European Countries? An Analysis at the Regional Level," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2012032, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    20. Paula-Manuela Cengiz & Leena Eklund Karlsson, 2021. "Portrayal of Immigrants in Danish Media—A Qualitative Content Analysis," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-18, May.

    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:zbw:espost:231507. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    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.