Support for redistribution is decreased by xenophobic beliefs

During the last decade, security, intoleance, national identity, unemployment or the welfare state, have all been associated with the rise in immigration. Particularly, several studies have provided evidence of a negative correlation between income redistribution and the rise in immigration . The general explanation for this relationship is that the welfare state implies a certain concept of community: the shared burdens and benefits of the welfare state are acceptable so long as everyone shares the same features. So, citizens tend to show less solidarity with “different” people and wish to decrease the generosity of state benefits.

Raul Magni Berton,University of Grenoble, attributed the phenomenon to xenophobia belief.

“Some other xenophobic beliefs tend rather to produce a demand for governmental protection programs. Based on a multivariate analysis on individual and contextual French data, findings show that the support for social protection programs is positively related to the fear of competition from immigrants and negatively with the fear that immigrants strain the welfare state.” Raul Magni Berton  wrote in a paper published in Open Journal of Political Science.