What Drives Anti-Immigrant Sentiments Online? A Novel Approach Using Twitter
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2234896 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anastasia Menshikova (0009-0007-7740-0917, Institute for Analytical Sociology, Linköping University , Norrköping, 60174 , Sweden, corresponding author), Anne Maaike Mulders (0000-0002-6415-2877, Utrecht University), Frank Van Tubergen |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 694-706 |
| Publication date | 2022-11-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Sociological Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0266-7215 • E-ISSN: 1468-2672 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/esr/jcac006 |
| OpenAlex | W4210248464 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 49 |
Most studies use survey data to study people's prejudiced views. In a digitally connected world, research is needed on out-group sentiments expressed online. In this study, we show how one can elaborate on existing sociological theories (i.e. group threat theory, contact theory) to test whether anti-immigrant sentiments expressed on Twitter are related to sociological conditions. We introduce and illustrate a new method of collecting data on online sentiments, creating a panel of 28,000 Twitter users in 39 regions in the United Kingdom. We apply automated text analysis to quantify anti-immigrant sentiments of 500,000 tweets over a 1-year period. In line with group threat theory, we find that people tweet more negatively about immigrants in periods following more salient coverage of immigration in the news. We find this association both for national news coverage, and for the salience of immigration in the personalized set of outlets people follow on Twitter. In support of contact theory, we find evidence to suggest that Twitter users living in areas with more non-western immigrants, and those who follow a more ethnically diverse group of people, tweet less negatively about immigrants
Cognitive psychology · Immigration · Political science · Salience (neuroscience) · Salient · Set (abstract data type) · Social media · Sociology · Straddle · World Wide Web · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
Tweeting migration
The affective paradox in populist online communities
Efficient and Reliable Geocoding of German Twitter Data to Enable Spatial Data Linkage to Official Statistics and Other Data Sources
Out of sight, out of mind
Policy Actors’ Struggle for Attention
Immigration discourse in a polarized era
Structuring articulation
The nexus between attitudes towards migration and the Covid-19 pandemic
Stand by Those who Share our Values” – How Refugees Fleeing the Taliban Improved European Attitudes Toward Immigration
Measuring Descriptive Representation at Scale
The Increase in Refugees to Germany and Exclusionary Beliefs and Behaviors
Who Tweets? Deriving the Demographic Characteristics of Age, Occupation and Social Class from Twitter User Meta-Data
Online networks of racial hate
Climate Change Sentiment on Twitter
Rtweet
Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook
LmerTest Package
Toward a Theory of Minority Group Relations
The Influence of News Media on Stereotypic Attitudes Toward Immigrants in a Political Campaign
The European media discourse on immigration and its effects
Comparative Analyses of Public Attitudes Toward Immigrants and Immigration Using Multinational Survey Data
The Variable Nature of News Media Influence
Twitter and Facebook are not representative of the general population
Tone Matters
News Coverage and Public Concern About Immigration in Britain
Media Attention and Radical Right-Wing Populist Party Sympathy
Not only Competitive Threat but also Racial Prejudice
Ethnic Exclusionism in European Countries. Public Opposition to Civil Rights for Legal Migrants as a Response to Perceived Ethnic Threat
Does Size Really Matter? On the Relationship between Immigrant Group Size and Anti-Immigrant Prejudice
Changing attitudes toward immigration in Europe, 2002–2007
How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Meta‐analytic tests of three mediators
Rebuilding or Intruding? Media Coverage and Public Opinion on L atino Immigration in Post‐ K atrina L ouisiana
National and regional proportion of immigrants and perceived threat of immigration
The dynamic relations between economic conditions and anti-immigrant sentiment
Race Prejudice as a Sense of Group Position
Cyberhate on Social Media in the aftermath of Woolwich
Gender and Anti-immigrant Attitudes in Europe
Perceived Migrant Threat among Migrants in Europe
The Rise of Anti-foreigner Sentiment in European Societies, 1988-2000
Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming
The Stability of Economic Correlations over Time
How news content influences anti‐immigration attitudes
The Sage Handbook of Social Media Research Methods
Intergroup Contact
Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? The Effect of Mohamed Salah on Islamophobic Behaviors and Attitudes
Representativeness of Social Media in Great Britain
Economic conditions, group relative deprivation and ethnic threat perceptions
Media Portrayals of Minorities
In the wake of radical right electoral success
Using Twitter for Demographic and Social Science Research
Mass Media and Concerns about Immigration in Germany in the 21st Century
Real World is Not Enough
Contextual Sources of Perceived Group Threat
Do Anti-Immigrant Laws Shape Public Sentiment? A Study of Arizona's SB 1070 Using Twitter Data
Media messages and attitudes toward muslims and ethnic minorities
The relationship between outgroup size and anti-outgroup attitudes
| Citations per year | 2.75 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |