ABSTRACT
Citizens’ immigration attitudes might be influenced by how they perceive the impact of immigration either concerning their own situation (egocentric) or with respect to the societal (sociotropic) situation. This is, however, the first study investigating the impact of the egocentric and sociotropic concerns on immigration attitudes. Drawing on a survey in six European countries, it investigates how the perceived personal and national impact of immigration with respect to economy and safety is related to citizens’ immigration policy preferences. Results show that immigration-related policy preferences were affected by the perceived impact of immigration at both the personal and the national level. When looking at the perceived economic impact, perceived impact at the national level had a stronger relationship with migration-related policy choices than perceived personal impact. Yet, for the perceived safety impact of immigration, the relationship was reversed: Perceptions related to the personal level had a stronger relationship than sociotropic perceptions. This suggests that while it might make sense to address societal impacts when it comes to economic effects of immigration, policymakers should rather relate to the personal level of citizens when they address safety issues.
