Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/301392 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Citation: 
[Journal:] Social Forces [ISSN:] 1534-7605 [Article No.:] soae108 [Publisher:] Oxford University Press (OUP) [Place:] Oxford [Year:] 2024 [Pages:] 1-20
Publisher: 
Oxford University Press (OUP), Oxford
Abstract: 
This paper connects insights from the literature on cosmopolitan worldviews and the effects of perspective-taking in political science, (intergroup) anxiety in social psychology, and identity economics in a vignette-style experiment. In particular, we asked German respondents about their attitudes towards a Syrian refugee, randomizing components of his description (N = 662). The main treatment describes the refugee as being aware of and empathetic towards potential worries in the German population about cultural change, costs, and violence associated with refugee inflows. This perspective-taking by the refugee increases the reported ability to empathize with the refugee and, especially for risk-averse people, reported sympathy and trust. We argue that acknowledging the potential concerns of the host population relieves the tension between an anxious and a cosmopolitan/open part of people’s identities. Moreover, relieved tension renders people less defensive; i.e. when one aspect of identity is already acknowledged (expressing anxieties), it has less influence on actual behavior (expressing sympathy). In addition, previous contact with foreigners and a higher willingness to take risks are important factors in determining an individual’s willingness to interact with refugees.
Subjects: 
intergroup contact
intergroup anxiety
perspective-taking
identity
migration
inte-gration
refugees
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

Files in This Item:
File
Size
1.19 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.