Economic Self-Interest or Cultural Threat? Migrant Unemployment and Class-based Support for Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Ciencia Política y Relaciones InternacionalesPublisher
SpringerDate
2023-07-15Citation
10.1007/s11109-023-09877-8
Political Behavior (2023): 1-20
ISSN
0190-9320 (print); 1573-6687 (online)DOI
10.1007/s11109-023-09877-8Funded by
This study was funded by the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, with the Project “Descomponiendo el voto a partidos de Derecha Radical entre los jóvenes: Precariedad Laboral, Insatisfacción con la Democracia e Inmigración” (SI3/PJI/2021–00384)Project
Comunidad de Madrid. SI3/PJI/2021–00384Editor's Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-023-09877-8Subjects
Fiscal Burden; Immigration; Populism; Radical Right; Social class; Unemployment; Derecho; PolíticaRights
© The Author(s) 2023Abstract
Labor market competition theory has traditionally analyzed the threat perceived by lower and middle class’ natives on competition over jobs with immigrants. However, in this article we focus on the fiscal burden and competition for social benefits generated by unemployed immigrants and its impact on the vote for Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRPs). Combining individual-level data and aggregate unemployment indicators for over 60 regions from 10 EU countries, we show that, on the one hand, upper class natives seem to support PRRPs when migrant unemployment rates are higher, irrespective of migrants’ origin, which is consistent with the fiscal burden model. On the other hand, lower and middle class natives are more likely to support PRRPs only in contexts of higher unemployment rates among non-EU migrants (but not among migrants from other EU member states), pointing towards an interaction between cultural and economic explanations. These findings underscore the need to account for migrant populations’ characteristics and to consider not only labor competition, but also the fiscal burden to better understand how unemployment may impact PRRP voting
Files in this item
Google Scholar:Cordero García, Guillermo
-
Zagorski, Piotr
-
Rama Caamaño, José
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.