Changing Attitudes Towards Immigrants in Light of Worsening Economic Conditions in Portugal

Sammanfattning: Portugal has experienced various structural changes in recent history which have greatly contributed to the country having a sizeable and varied immigrant population at present. The Global Economic Crisis of 2008 has severely impacted numerous countries in the European Union including Portugal. Conditions in Portugal had been gradually worsening, largely as a result of a stagnating national economy, where unemployment steadily increased in the years leading up to 2008. In the wake of the crisis, Portugal has experienced dramatic reductions in GDP, soaring unemployment rates and in particular regarding youth unemployment, social unrest and political instability. Further, the most vulnerable socioeconomic groups in Portugal have been worst affected, where social inequality, poverty and a whole array of other social issues have been exacerbated by the crisis and the austerity policies that were implemented in the wake of the economic crash. This thesis attempted to discover if attitudes towards immigrants have changed in light of worsening economic conditions in Portugal during three different time periods 2002-2006-2012, with a primary focus on the most recent period where conditions were most austere. Moreover, this research also sought to establish the determinants which influence attitudes towards immigrants over the same time period. Data was used from three rounds of the European Social Survey and in particular, round 1 (2002/2003), round 3 (2006/2007) and round 6 (2012/2013). Descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regressions were used in order to answer the research questions and realistic group conflict theory was utilised as a theoretical framework when analysing and explaining the findings. It was evident that attitudes towards immigrants have become more negative over the given time period and were indeed most pronounced in light of the recent economic crisis. It was also apparent that natives who were in greater competition with immigrants possessed the most pronounced levels of prejudice.