Social capital and attitudes towards immigrants : A comparative analysis between Europe and the Americas

Abstract

Why do some people express more positive attitudes towards immigrants than others? I address this question by empirically analyzing attitudes toward immigrants in 32 developed and developing countries in two regions (Europe and the Americas), using two individual-level survey data sets (European Social Survey and the World Values Survey). Using social capital, specifically interpersonal and institutional trust, as the explanatory variable, I hypothesize that the higher the social capital, the more positive the attitudes towards immigrants. For this measurement, I employ multilevel modeling for a considerable number of indicators. With the exception of the coercive institutions in Europe and in the Americas, and National Institutions in the Americas, I find a significant and positive relation in all other indicators, which indicates mixed support for the hypothesis, with a clear positive prevalence in this relationship. Thus, these results suggest that social capital has the capacity to reduce the negative attitudes of people towards immigrants.