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IMMIGRANT PRESENCE, GROUP BOUNDARIES AND
SUPPORT FOR THE WELFARE STATE IN WESTERN
EUROPEAN SOCIETIES
Nate Breznau, Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES)
(breznau.nate@gmail.com) primary contact.
Maureen A. Eger, Department of Sociology, Umeå University (maureen.eger@soc.umu.se)
Forthcoming in Acta Sociologica.
You may download the paper from Nate Breznau’s academic website:
https://sites.google.com/site/nbreznau/publications
ABSTRACT
The intersection of group dynamics and socioeconomic status theories is applied as a framework
for the puzzling relationship of immigration and support for the welfare state in Western Europe.
Group dynamics theories suggest that how individuals define their group boundaries moderates
the impact of immigration on support for the welfare state. Immigrant presence should have the
strongest effects for those with exclusive national group boundaries; weaker for those with
conditionally inclusive boundaries based on reciprocity; and weakest or non-existent for those
with inclusive group boundaries. Group boundaries should interact with material self-interest
leading individuals with less material security who are more likely to face social risks to be more
supportive of the welfare state. Using data from the 4th European Social Survey linked to
regional and national data we find that group boundary salience plays a large moderating role in
the relationship of immigration and native support for the welfare state, and that this role is
intricately linked to material self-interest. Group dynamics should therefore be viewed in
conjunction with existing structural welfare state theories as opposed to an alternative or isolated
mechanism.