| This project aims to explain why native Europeans are inclined to exclude immigrants from welfare arrangements (?welfare chauvinism?) by assessing 1) country-level differences in welfare chauvinism, and 2) the remarkable combination of this sentiment with egalitarianism among the less educated. To do so, it will combine the 4th wave of the European Social Survey (ESS) with country-level data primarily retrieved from the European Data Center for Work and Welfare (EDACwowe). Three theories might account for the two patterns analysed. The first one, which may account for country level differences in welfare chauvinism, focuses on the principle of reciprocity. It suggests that the native population is inclined to exclude immigrants from welfare arrangements if the latter contribute less to these arrangements than they make use of it. Secondly, the ethnic competition theory argues that competition over scarce resources between immigrants and natives is responsible for country-level differences as well as the combination of egalitarianism with welfare chauvinism among the less educated. A third theory claims that these patterns can be explained by natives? resistance to cultural heterogeneity. |
