Factors Influencing the Attitudes of the Majority Population of Slovenia towards Immigration

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study on the attitudes of the majority population of Slovenia towards immigration and the factors influencing such. The factors examined included: socio-demographic characteristics of the members of the majority population, contacts between the majority population and immigrants, and perceived economic, security, and cultural threats. We took as our premise two theoretical frameworks – group threat theory and intergroup contact theory. The results show that the majority population has a rather reserved attitude towards immigration and mostly believes Slovenia should tighten immigration conditions. The influence of individual factors on the majority population’s attitudes was tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Perceived threats, especially cultural threat, and to a lesser extent economic and security threats, emerged as the strongest predictors of attitudes towards immigration.