Social and economic context and attitudes toward immigrants in Canadian cities
Schissel, B.; Wanner, R.; Frideres, J.S.
International Migration Review 23(2): 289-308
1989
ISSN/ISBN: 0197-9183 PMID: 12315958 DOI: 10.2307/2546262Document Number: 277177
This article presents a study of the effects of a number of socioeconomic features of Canadian cities, particularly their unemployment rates, on the attitudes toward immigrants of their native-born residents. Using data from a national study of ethnicity and multiculturalism, the authors estimate several regression models predicting 3 separate dimensions of attitude toward immigrants and including as independent variables both individual characteristics and structural characteristics of city of residence. They found no evidence of a sizeable effect of local unemployment rate on attitude toward immigrants. Of the other contextual variables included in the models, the only 2 consistently influencing these attitudes included in the models, educational attainment and income, along with mother tongue, exhibit the strongest and most consistent effects on the attitude dimensions.