Xenophobia and the Culture of Welcome in Times of High Refugee Immigration

Abstract

This chapter presents results about xenophobia and the culture of welcome in Germany. This report is primarily based on two subsamples in the data of the Bielefeld Study on Xenosophia and Religion in Germany. These subsamples are largely representative of the German population, because they were surveyed by an opinion research institute. The first subsample consists of 637 respondents, who were surveyed in August 2015, when the first large refugee migration wave on the Balkan route arrived in Europe and in Germany. The second subsample consists of 625 respondents, who were surveyed in March 2016, shortly before the elections in three German states. Comparison allows an estimate of changes in the culture of welcome, prejudices and other attitudes in the relatively short time distance of half a year. Results also indicate that the increase of xenophobia in the Germany-East is considerably higher than in Germany-West. We finally explore correlates and potential predictors for the culture of welcoming war refugees and unwelcoming “economic” refugees.