Explaining anti-immigration hostility in Britain

The key findings of the article are that:

• People claim to think of the good of society rather than their own self-interest when worrying about the impact of immigration;

• One of the most significant worries concerns employment and the fear that immigrants are taking fellow citizens’ jobs;

• Public worries that immigration leads to increased crime are misplaced; there is no relationship between immigration and crime rates

• These last two fears can be remedied by policy makers through dissemination of the facts;

• The worry that national symbols are being eroded is entirely subjective and therefore more difficult to address.

The article will be freely available until the end of October – to access the article please visit http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00680.x