Perceptions of In-group Discrimination by First and Second Generation Immigrants from Different Countries of Origin in EU Member-States

from Different Countries of Origin in EU Member-States S. André, J. Dronkers & F. Fleischmann Last updated: July 20 , 2010 Abstract Drawing on 71593 respondents of the second and third wave of the European Social Survey, we analyse the perceptions of in-group discrimination of 7034 immigrants from 177 different countries of origin in 14 EU-countries. In addition to testing the effects of individual factors, such as education, religion, and migration history, we estimate the effects of macrocharacteristics of both origin and destination countries and community variables such as community size. Perceived in-group discrimination is far more common among immigrants than among natives. The influence of adherence to Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Islamic, and other non-Christian religions on perceived in-group discrimination can be explained by European history. The migration history of these groups is also relevant for the perceived discrimination: immigrants who are citizens of the destination country, who speak the majority language at home and who are married to a native perceive in-group discrimination less often. The community level characteristics do not add much to the explanation of perceived in-group discrimination, with social-economic distance between community and destination as the only significant negative effect. There are only two significant effects of macro-characteristics of the country of destination: easy access to long term residence and non prevalent religion lower the perceived in-group discrimination. There are more significant effects of the macro-characteristics of the country of origin. Immigrants from weaker socioeconomic origin countries perceive in-group discrimination less often. Immigrants originating from former colonies perceive in-group discrimination more often, just as do immigrants from countries with a higher income inequality.