ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a structural explanation of racial attitudes, presents the empirical evidence for it, explores racial prejudice and examines its causes. It explains the negative attitudes of Germans towards ethnic groups and their members, interviews with respondents who do not hold German citizenship were not considered. The chapter examines the effects of more stable personality variables on racial prejudice. It suggests that racial prejudice expressed by the less highly educated is determined more by their socio-cultural circumstances and by their perception of ethnic minorities. The chapter argues that more general constructs need to be used as main determinants of racial prejudice. Violent attacks on African and Asian migrants and Turkish residents as well as increased electoral support for the extreme right are frequently identified as evidence for the existence of growing racism and racial prejudice among Germans. The first dimension of racial prejudice is called general prejudice and stereotypes.
