Attitudes Towards Syrian Refugees During the ‘Refugee Crisis’ in Greece

Abstract

During the recent ‘refugee crisis’ Greece became one of the major entry points by sea as high numbers of refugees and asylum seekers, primarily originating from Syria, entered its territory en route to wealthier European countries. The unprecedented arrival of refugees has triggered mixed reactions towards newcomers raising socio-economic and cultural concerns about the potential impacts of refugees on the host country. The chapter uses survey data from the EU-funded TransSOL project and incorporates realistic group conflict and social identity theories to explore potential determinants shaping different attitudes towards Syrian refugees entering Greece. The descriptive analysis indicated that opposition attitudes towards Syrian refugees are widespread in Greece. Results from a multinomial logistic regression analysis demonstrated that individual determinants related to social identity theory are particularly important in understanding different levels of Greeks’ opposition towards Syrian refugees, whereas strong opposition towards the specific ethnic group was associated with an amalgamation of individual factors related to both realistic group conflict and social identity theory. The findings stress the necessity of implementing policy interventions that promote the intercultural dialogue and aim to mitigate the main sources of negative stances towards refugees.