Background. This thesis directs attention to how attitudes towards immigrants evolve under different contextual circumstances. Unlike previous research that primarily focuses on contextual factors related to the availability of material resources, the included studies explore the influence of less tangible aspects of our surroundings, brought together under the term immaterial contexts. Three kinds of immaterial contexts are in focus: political representatives’ use of nationalistic rhetoric, the parliamentary presence of the extreme right, and the religious context. The studies examine the direct effects of these contexts, but also how individuals’ beliefs, loyalties, and experiences interact with the contextual factors to shape peoples’ attitudes. Methods. The thesis takes a comparative approach where countries serve as the main contextual unit. Data on attitudes and other individual features are gathered from the European Social Survey 2002-2012. To be able to analyze these data in the same model as used for country-level data, the thesis applies multi-level models. Results. The findings support a theoretical expectation that immaterial contexts influence anti-immigrant attitudes. How people perceive immigrants and immigration can be traced to political and religious aspects of their surroundings. Also, it is found that individuals are not passive recipients of contextual influences as their reactions depend on their preferences and experiences. While political representatives influence anti-immigrant attitudes, these effects are strongly conditional both on features of the representatives themselves, and on characteristics and experiences of individuals. For example, individuals respond to political rhetoric by traditional political parties but are not influenced by the same kind of message if conveyed by a party belonging to the extreme right. Conclusion. The thesis is an attempt to widen the very notion of contexts in empirical research, and as such, it is a contribution to the literature on anti-immigrant attitudes. It shows that anti-immigrant attitudes depend not only on material circumstances, but also on immaterial circumstances tied to the political and religious arena. Further, the thesis demonstrates how combining the theoretical perspectives of group threat theory and framing theory implies greater possibilities to conceive of the link between contexts and attitudes, as well as improved theoretical tools to understand when and why such effects do not occur. It signals that research on immaterial contexts is necessary to further advance the comparative scholarship on anti-immigrant attitudes and reach a deeper understanding of how such attitudes emerge and evolve.

This thesis seeks to challenge the dominant modes of conceiving the empirical link between citizens’ negative perceptions of immigrants and electoral support for Western European radical right parties, and in doing so, to offer a deeper understanding of the dynamics of radical right voting behavior based on an analysis of radical right parties’ online activities. Despite radical right parties' great popularity and important presence online, little scholarly attention has been paid to their activities in an online space. Accordingly, most empirical research on radical right voting behavior has been conducted in an offline context, ignoring the potential role the Internet plays in connecting radical right parties and voters. Building on Norris’s demand-supply framework, I consider the largely ignored factor, citizens' online activities, in my quantitative model and, ultimately, develop formal links between citizens’ anti-immigrant attitudes and electoral support for radical right parties conditional on their level of Internet usage. Thereby, I aim to provide an answer to the following research question: Does citizens’ Internet usage moderate the relationship between anti-immigrant attitudes and radical right voting? Using data from the 9th wave of the European Social Survey (ESS), I test whether voters' high level of Internet consumption strengthens the positive relationship between anti-immigrant attitudes and electoral support for radical right parties in eight Western European countries. The results show that my expectations are strongly supported at the cross-national level and partially confirmed at the national level by Belgium, Germany, and Italy. My findings hold promise for future work in designing more elaborate and practical voting models.

Background: Previous studies have consistently identified an association between higher levels of education and lower levels of anti-immigrant sentiment, but the underlying reasons for this relationship remain unclear. Therefore, this research aims to help explain why education matters for attitudes toward immigrants. This thesis consists of two studies, where in I examine the role of two features of education, specifically the aquistition of knowledge and social relationships. In the first study, I analyze how two aspects of teaching in schools are associated with anti-immigrant sentiment. I examine education as a means to knowledge by investigating whether the content of education, such as critical thinking and multicultural education, is inversely related to students' prejudice. I also look into the certification of teachers and whether this has a similar effect. In the second study, I investigate the school as an arena for social interaction and examine the relationship between outgroup contact and prejudiced attitudes. Previous research has found that outgroup contact, especially contact in the form of outgroup friendship, is effective in reducing prejudice. Based on these previous findings, I study how the Secondary Transfer Effect (STE) of friendship with a specific outgroup member is associated with attitudes towards other ethnic or racial groups. Method: The two studies rely on a cross-sectional survey of Swedish high school students (aged 16-18) administered by 'Forum för levande historia' (Forum for living history) and Statistics Sweden during the 2009-2010 academic year. Additionally, survey participants' responses are matched to registry data. This thesis also uses multilevel (MLM) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models. Results: Results show that both aspects of education are correlated with lower levels of anti-immigrant sentiment. The first study, in which education is a means to knowledge, demonstrates that education focused on critical thinking and multiculturalism are negatively correlated with anti-immigrant sentiment. Furthermore, results show that more exposure to teachings about xenophobia and racism is associated with less prejudice. However, when controlling for exposure to critical thinking, as well as learning about religions and cultures, the results show that exposure to learning about xenophobia and racism are no longer significant. Moreover, there is a negative association between exposure to teachers with a teaching certification or teaching degree and prejudice. Results from the second study, in which the school functions as an arena for social interaction, shows that positive attitudes associated with intergroup friendship not only generalize to the ethnic outgroup of that friend but, more importantly, also to other secondary outgroups. STEs are most frequently found where boundaries between ingroups and outgroups are perceived to be the thickest. Thus, the presence of STEs appears to be group-specific. Previous research on perceived social distance in Sweden and other countries help shed light on these findings. In summary, the results of this thesis provide evidence of two different complimentary accounts of the negative relationship between education and prejudice.