British Public Attitudes towards Immigration: A Quantitative Study of Public Tolerance towards Immigrants in the UK

Tamanna Rashid

Immigration has been at the forefront of public and political debate in the UK as recent net migration to major international destinations reaches unprecedented levels. Yet hostility towards immigrants has historically featured in British public consciousness, shaping racial tensions that preexist in the UK today.

This research highlights the dominance of immigration as a problem reinforced by British political elites and media. It investigates public attitudes towards immigration and immigrants during a period of increasing public interest. Using the latest round from the European Social Survey (ESS), it examines immigration attitudes in the UK context while disaggregating immigration attitudes contingent to the racial profile of immigrants; this approach has allowed comparisons between how white and non-white immigrants are received by host countries.

Secondary analysis on data from the 2014 round of ESS including over 2000 UK respondents shows that optimists outnumber sceptics on the entry of both types of immigrants. However, in Britain public attitudes favour the entry of white immigrants who are viewed as most aligned to Britain’s image of the ideal immigrant than non-white immigrants, based on the criteria of education, language, skin colour, work skills and assimilation.

Despite predominantly positive views on the UK’s growing foreign population, attitudes favour white immigrants, with some respondents being more inclined to hold anti-immigration sentiments than others. Multivariate analysis has shown that social divides in attitudes towards both immigrant groups are shaped by economic and non-economic factors, with sociodemographic factors less influential in determining attitudes. The main findings show: 

§ Where individual economic wellbeing is believed to suffer from immigration, greater hostility towards white immigrants are shown; while at the group economic level, this negative effect is greater towards non-white immigrants 

§  Perceived economic threats and symbolic threats are associated more with non-white immigrants than for white immigrants

§  Though being employed or unemployed has no statistical significance to positive or negative immigration attitudes, having a student status generally coincides with pro-immigration attitudes towards both immigrant groups

§  Political ideology mobilizes economic and social concerns among public immigration perceptions where right-wing support significantly increases opposition towards the entry of both immigrant groups

§  Greater exposure to immigrant and ethnic minority communities reduces anti-immigration attitudes; those who have limited contact are most likely to hold negative attitudes towards immigrants, especially if they are of a non-white race, while greater exposure to immigrants significantly reduces hostility, especially towards non-white immigrants 

This research has confirmed the centrality of race in shaping public attitudes towards immigrants. British preferences for immigration are racialized, with white immigrants favoured over non-white immigrants. Despite greater tolerance towards different races and cultures residing in Britain’s growing heterogenous landscape, racialized public attitudes have systematic consequences for immigrants, especially in today’s tense racial climate. This research recognises that popular perceptions of immigrants have wider implications for the current UK political climate, having both social and economic impacts on communities, families and individuals – the most obvious of these being the momentum for a Brexit United Kingdom.

Tamanna recently completed her BSc (Hons) Sociology with Quantitative Methods at City, University of London. This week's post summarises select findings from her dissertation research.