Is institutional trust related to the attitudes towards immigrants in Europe? A study of majority and minority population

The paper examines the factors that are related to attitudes towards immigrants in Europe, with a particular focus on the role of institutional trust in shaping these attitudes. We go one step further compared to previous studies by investigating separately two different groups of people — members of the ethnic majority and ethnic minority populations in European countries. We use data from the European Social Survey fourth round database for 27 countries. The main finding is that social trust is important for both groups, while trust in institutions is more strongly related to the attitudes among ethnic majorities. Other biggest differences between members of the ethnic minority and majority population are related to type of area where one lives, human capital and economic factors. The first two are more strongly related to the attitudes towards immigrants for the majority populations, while economic factors (especially labour market status) are more important for the minority populations in European countries.