Perceptions of Threat and Expressions of Prejudice Toward the New Minorities of Western Europe

This article presents a group position model of prejudice and a set of individual-level theoretical approaches to explain prejudice toward immigrants, who are a relatively new minority group in Western Europe. It specifically tests the effects of the perceived threat posed by the new minorities to the dominant group position of the citizens in the European nation-states. Threat is measured both as individuals’ perceptions of threat over economic and sociocultural resources and as contextual factors. Results show that individuals’ perception of threat to their ingroup’s position has the most powerful effect on prejudice, whereas context does not seem to matter. The findings imply that sources of perceived threat should be addressed to help reduce prejudice.