Gli atteggiamenti nei confronti dell'immigrazione prima e dopo la pandemia Covid-19 in 13 paesi europei. Uno studio esplicativo

This study attempts to further our understanding of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on attitudes toward immigration in Europe by examining both the role if individual and contextual factors. On the basis of data of the European Social Survey (round 9 and 10), our findings indicate that, after the pandemic crisis and in opposition to our initial hypotheses, negative attitudes towards immigrants decreased in several EU countries, but not in all countries and not with the same intensity. The role of contextual factors, such as integration policies, the salience of immigration and economic conditions, is crucial to explain this heterogeneity. Moreover, the consequences of the crisis may have impacted on the priorities of EU citizens and immigration was no longer at the centre of the public debate. Therefore, alongside descriptive statistics, we apply multilevel modelling to contribute explaining these changes while controlling for individual factors.