ABSTRACT
Studying the relation between the attitude towards immigrants and the level of education in France, implies first of all the measuring of two elements that are decisive for the understanding of the specific context of which these two variables form a part. Apart from being the decisive variable for the explanation of the expression of xenophobic opinions, the level of education seems to play an increasingly important role in France. Although education overall reduces the expression of xenophobic opinions, it has a stronger immunising effect on people with left wing beliefs than on those of a right wing persuasion. For people with a lower level of education, the expression of xenophobic opinions is also connected with an adhesion to authoritarian values, but this link is not as strong as the role played by factors related to the perception of the world, such as an insecurity about the future.
