Selecting Talented Migrants: Majority and Minority Perspectives

In: Political psychology: journal of the International Society of Political Psychology, Band 42, Heft 4, S. 659-676

Abstract

Many countries seek to specifically attract talented migrants in order to match the needs of national economies. In addition to the well‐known intergroup antagonism between natives and immigrants, such immigration policies targeting talented migrants imply differentiation within the immigrant group, using normative criteria to distinguish desirable and economically useful immigrants from undesirable ones. Based on European Social Survey data (Round 7, N = 9856) comprised of national citizens from six multinational countries, we show that national majorities support individualized, "cherry picking" immigration policies to a greater degree than historical national minorities and that this support is associated with national majorities' stronger sense of identification with the country and its individualistic norms. We thereby conceptualize a novel facet of multiculturalism based on individual justice principles that is rarely at the forefront of research on immigration and multiculturalism.