The role of education in promoting positive attitudes towards migrants at times of stress

The paper examines the role of education in shaping individuals’ attitudes towards migration in European countries using data from the 2012, 2014 and 2016 editions of the European Social Survey (rounds 6, 7 and 8). Results indicate that, despite the large influx of migrants experienced by many European countries in 2015, attitudes towards migration reported by 25-65 year olds in Europe did not vary significantly over the period considered. Education was strongly associated with individuals’ attitudes towards migration although the strength of the association and how the association changed over time varied greatly across countries. On average a difference of one standard deviation in educational participation is associated with a difference of 20% of a standard deviation in reported opposition to migration. Around three quarters of the association between education and opposition to migration can be explained by the lower economic threat, cultural threat and prejudice that individuals with higher educational participation experience. Between 2014 and 2016 the overall association between education and attitudes towards migration became weaker in countries with an increase in foreign-born population, a decrease in polarisation that was accompanied by no changes in overall levels of opposition to migration. The presence of migrants in a country and the unemployment rate moderate the extent to which the association between education and attitudes towards migration is mediated by cultural threat but not economic threat or prejudice.