Contact with immigrants can make locals more relaxed about immigration

The more Luxembourgers come into contact with immigrants from neighbouring countries (France, Belgium & Germany), the less they feel threatened by the presence of non-natives, and the more relaxed they feel about new arrivals holding onto their cultural identities.

The more Luxembourgers come into contact with immigrants from neighbouring countries (France, Belgium & Germany), the less they feel threatened by the presence of non-natives, and the more relaxed they feel about new arrivals holding onto their cultural identities. These are key findings from recent research* by the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) “Luxembourg’s extremely high rate of immigration makes it unique,” noted lead researcher on this project Marie-Sophie Callens.” 

Different ideas for integration

Substantial international research has shown that on the whole, when people come to live in a new country they also tend to want to keep hold of much of their original national and regional culture,. However, native majorities tend to prefer that immigrants seek to adopt local customs as well as the language. This illustrates the basic difference between, respectively, the “multicultural” model of integration and the “assimilation” model. Luxembourg takes a multicultural approach, in which diversity is celebrated. 

Luxembourg unique

Luxembourg is special in that the majority group is not clearly the largest, as at the start of 2015 46% of the population did not have the Luxembourg nationality. In most countries the majority is clearly a majority group in the sense that this group is much larger than the minority group. In Luxembourg this is not the case. There is no academic consensus on whether the presence of large immigrant groups exacerbates or eases feelings of threat felt by natives. On the one hand, a large foreign population could create competition for jobs, welfare resources and homes. On the other, many international studies suggest that more contact with newcomers results in more natives welcoming multiculturalism.

Measuring attitudes

The research team sought to measure the level of threat felt by natives, plus their attitudes to multiculturalism and assimilation, and how all this changed following contact with non-nationals. LISER analysed data from the major European Values Study in 2008 which probed these questions. Answers were used from those 571Luxembourgers with both parents also born in the country. 

Interviewees were asked to agree or disagree more or less strongly with statements such as: “to be integrated into Luxembourg requires knowledge of Luxembourgish”, “foreigners should join Luxembourgish associations rather than to set up their own”, “a foreigner can be integrated and at the same time keep traditions and customs from their own country”, “immigrants do not make crime problems worse”, “in the future the proportion of immigrants will not become a threat to society”. 

The researchers established statistical measures of different attitudes, and compared these with each subject’s personal circumstances (job, education, gender etc.). There was also a comparison made with the type of contacts each person had with immigrants (friends and partner) and from where their immigrant-contacts originated (Portugal/Spain, France/Germany/Belgium, Spain/ex-Yugoslavia).

More contact reduces feelings of threat

As expected, LISER found that the more natives perceive immigration as a threat, the more they would favour assimilation. Conversely, when they perceive benefits from immigration, they tended to favour the live-and-let-live multicultural model. Moreover, the more contact natives have with people originating from neighbouring countries, the less they felt threatened. As well, the research found that having a life partner being born outside the country made subjects less in favour of assimilation.

It was also noted that natives with lower educational achievement and lower incomes tended to perceive a greater threat. Conversely, those with a higher-education degree felt lower threat levels and were more enthusiastic for multiculturalism. 

Quality contact increases acceptance

However, there was an unexpected caveat. The researchers found that lower threat perceptions and support for multiculturalism only resulted from increased contacts with people from the countries neighbouring Luxembourg. Having more contact with people from Portugal, Spain or ex-Yugoslavia did not change peoples’ threat perceptions or integration preferences. 

“This apparent anomaly is explained in international research. The effect of boosting contact has a stronger effect on attitudes when it is between people with similar group status, and this is more often the case in this country for people from neighbouring or very similar countries,” noted Marie-Sophie Callens. 

Unique study

This research is unique given the intensity of the Luxembourg multinational and multilingual setting. Despite these differences, the conclusions were consistent with international findings. Conclusions are not clear cut but Marie-Sophie Callens is convinced that the findings could guide politicians. “Policy makers who intend to foster a diverse, yet coherent society should seek to decrease threat perceptions and to stimulate intercultural contacts among residents, as these issues are clearly interrelated,” she said. “This increases the chance that the integration policy will be widely accepted.”

This conclusion is informed by her statistical analysis of eighteen peer-reviewed papers on this topic** “The conclusion is that integration policies are strongly associated with the perceived threat from immigrants and, perhaps, to the public’s level of anti-immigrant attitudes,” she noted. “Inclusive policies can be said to reduce the level of perceived threat, while exclusionary policies tend to have the opposite outcome.”

* CALLENS Marie-Sophie, MEULEMAN Bart, VALENTOVA Marie. Perceived Threat, Contact and Attitudes towards the Integration of Immigrants. Evidence from Luxembourg. LISER, 2015, Working Papers n°2015-01, 28p.

**CALLENS Marie-Sophie. Integration policies and public opinion: in conflict or in harmony? LISER, 2015, Working Papers n°2015-02, 28p. in conflict or in harmony? LISER, 2015, document de travail n°2015-02, 26 p.