This project focuses on the perception of immigrants as criminals, but more importantly, how this negative perception of immigrants can influence the population’s support for strict punitive policies. The question I seek to answer: will common negative perceptions of immigrants affect public support for more stringent punitive policies? The literature on what makes people punitive mostly focuses on the role of race and hostile feelings that lead to punitive feelings towards an immigrant. In this project, minorities and their attitudes in contrast to past studies that focus on White Americans will be central to the analysis. Analysis of both the 2012 National Election Survey and 2001 Los Angeles Social Survey data is used to explain how the relationship between economic threat and negative perceptions of immigrants lead to respondents becoming more punitive. Although respondents who feel economic threat are more punitive, there is a difference in significance between Whites and Blacks.

This study investigates the connection between refugee reception in Swedish municipalities and support for the Swedish right-wing populist party, the Sweden Democrats. Using panel data of electoral support for the Sweden Democrats in the elections 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 and the number of refugees received per municipality in the years since the preceding election, I find a positive and significant association between support for the Sweden Democrats and number of refugees received. This result is consistent across different models, including models utilising municipality-fixed and year-fixed effects. In order to test different theories on the connection between immigration and support for right-wing populists, I also utilise several different interaction effects between refugee intake and urbanity, native unemployment, income, immigrant unemployment and existing immigrant stock. Through this, I find some evidence for a connection between economic circumstance and response to refugee reception, supporting a theory of refugees being perceived as an economic threat, but only very weak support for a connection between political response to refugee reception and cultural fears or native contact with refugees.

Les recherches suggèrent que les préjugés envers les personnes d’origine chinoise ont augmenté au cours des premiers mois de la pandémie de la COVID-19. L’étude présentée dans ce mémoire se base sur un premier postulat, selon lequel l’évolution des préjugés n’est pas univoque pour tous les individus. Le second postulat de cette étude établit que le contexte pandémique suscite des mécanismes psychologiques qui peuvent favoriser mais aussi contrer les préjugés. Le premier objectif vise à identifier l’hétérogénéité dans les trajectoires de préjugés. Le deuxième objectif vise à déterminer quelles catégories sociodémographiques sont associées aux différents groupes de trajectoires de préjugés (âge, genre, province de résidence, affiliation politique). Le troisième objectif vise à déterminer si les participants assignés aux différents groupes de trajectoires de préjugés diffèrent selon la menace économique et le statut identitaire. Une étude longitudinale a été conduite d’avril à décembre 2020 auprès d’un échantillon adulte représentatif de la population canadienne en vertu de l’âge, du genre et de la province de résidence (N = 3617). Les résultats suggèrent des trajectoires élevées et stables de préjugés ainsi que des trajectoires faibles et instables de préjugés. Les participants appartenant aux trajectoires élevées et stables rapportent une plus grande affiliation politique « de droite » et s’identifient à des groupes plus locaux. Les participants appartenant aux trajectoires faibles et instables rapportent une plus grande affiliation politique « de gauche » et s’identifient de manière plus globale et inclusive. Les résultats sont mitigés concernant l’âge et non significatifs concernant le genre, la province de résidence et la menace économique. Les implications théoriques et pratiques sont discutées. / Research suggests that prejudice against Chinese people has increased in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study presented in this master’s thesis is based on a first premise that the evolution of prejudice is not unequivocal for all individuals. The second postulate of this study establishes that the pandemic context gives rise to psychological mechanisms which can promote but also counter prejudice. The first objective is to identify heterogeneity in the trajectories of prejudice. The second objective aims to determine which socio-demographic categories are associated with the different groups of prejudice trajectories (age, gender, province of residence, political affiliation). The third objective aims to determine whether the participants assigned to the different groups of prejudice trajectories differ according to economic threat and identity status. A longitudinal study was conducted from April 2020 to December 2020 within a representative adult sample of the Canadian population by age, gender and province of residence (N = 3617). The results suggest high and stable trajectories of prejudice as well as low and unstable trajectories of prejudice. Participants belonging to high and stable trajectories report greater “right-wing” political affiliation and identify with more local groups. Participants belonging to low and unstable trajectories report greater “left-wing” political affiliation and identify more globally and inclusively. Results are mixed for age and are non-significant for gender, province of residence, and economic threat. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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