Does Increasing Immigration Affect Ethnic Minority Groups?. Issue 1 (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Danying; Ramos, Miguel R.; Bennett, Matthew R.; Massey, Douglas S.; Hewstone, Miles
• Other Names: Vari-Lavoisier Ilka guest-editor.; Fiske Susan T. guest-editor.; Nordman Christophe guest-editor.; Massey Douglas S. guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Volume 697:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 65
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: immigration -- ethnic diversity -- ethnic minority -- well-being -- discrimination -- contact -- trust; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- United States -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; 300
• DOI: 10.1177/00027162211051999
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-7162

Abstract

Immigration is increasing around the world. Academic work suggests that increasing immigration reduces social cohesion and subjective well-being, but these studies mainly focused on white majority populations. Using the 2002 to 2014 European Social Survey, we analyze data from 5, 149 ethnic minority respondents living in twenty-four European countries. We examine the association between immigration and respondents' well-being, mediated by two critical cognitive mechanisms: perceived discrimination and generalized trust. We find that in the short term, immigration is associated with greater perceived discrimination, which in turn is associated with lower trust and well-being. Over the longer term, though, immigration is associated with lower perceived discrimination from ethnic minorities, yielding greater generalized trust and perceived well-being.