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In most studies on ethnic attitudes, a rather strong negative relationship has been found between educational attainment and positive ingroup attitudes (or negative outgroup attitudes). However, it is not well known to what extent this educational effect varies across different national contexts. This study investigated the effect of education on different dimensions of nationalism and ethnic exclusionism with the use of 1995 survey data gathered in 22 countries. Notions from socialization theory were used to test whether the educational effect varies according to the length of liberal-democratic tradition and the degree of religious heterogeneity within a country. Results indicate that educational attainment is strongly related to ethnic exclusionism as well as chauvinism, but not to patriotism. Moreover, the effect of education on ethnic exclusionism is smaller in recently established democracies. The hypothesis regarding stronger educational effects in societies with more religious heterogeneity was not supported.

The start of the twenty-first century is characterized by massive international migration, intense ethnic conflicts and ethnic antagonism. Attitudes toward the ethnic in-group and toward ethnic out-groups have gained increasing relevance as a research topic in the social sciences. In this cross-national comparative study I examined the attitudes of ethnic majority populations toward their own country and the national in-group (nationalistic attitudes) and their attitudes toward ethnic minorities and immigrants (ethnic exclusionism). Hypotheses derived from various sociological and social psychological theories, such as social identity theory and realistic group conflict theory, were tested with data of the International Social Survey Programme, gathered in 1995 in 22 countries. To assess the degree of cross-national equivalence of the survey measurements, I applied structural equation modelling and conducted multi-sample analyses. First, I explored whether various dimensions of nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism can be distinguished. Conceptually and empirically, a distinction could be made between chauvinism, referring to feelings of national superiority, and patriotism, referring to national pride. With regard to ethnic exclusionism, a distinction could be made between exclusionism of immigrants, political refugees, and exclusionism from group membership. The interrelations between chauvinism, patriotism, and dimensions of ethnic exclusionism were examined across the different countries. Chauvinism was overall positively related to ethnic exclusionism in each country. Patriotism on the other hand was mostly not significantly, and in a few countries even negatively, related to ethnic exclusionism. Only in Germany and Japan, a higher level of patriotism was related to stronger exclusionism of immigrants and refugees. Next, the impact of individual characteristics on nationalistic attitudes and ethnic exclusionism was assessed. In particular, this study examined whether the effect of educational attainment varied systematically across countries. In line with socialization theory, the educational effect on ethnic exclusionism was smaller in recently established democracies compared to other countries. However, no substantial differences were found in the effect of education on nationalistic attitudes. Chauvinism and ethnic exclusionism were strongly affected by perceptions of ethnic threat. Furthermore, I investigated the societal causes of chauvinism and ethnic exclusionism. To what extent are differences between countries in the average level of chauvinism and ethnic exclusionism related to demographic, economic, and political conditions, as well as recent changes in these societal conditions, such as the decline in economic conditions or the growth in asylum applications? By means of multi-level analyses, the effects of individual and societal characteristics were estimated simultaneously. Two rather consistent effects emerged. Firstly, the higher the degree of ethnic heterogeneity within a country, the stronger the average level of chauvinism and ethnic exclusionism. Secondly, the stronger the relative decline in economic conditions, the stronger the average level of chauvinism, ethnic exclusionism, as well as perceptions of ethnic threat.

This thematic issue aims to shed light on the connections between institutions (and related forms of organisation) on social inclusion and exclusion. In this editorial we briefly introduce the concepts, summarise the various articles and provide some general conclusions.

Abstract. In three survey experimental studies among national samples of the native Dutch, we examined feelings towards Muslim immigrants' political party representation. The strategy of disengagement (reject political representation) was evaluated most positively, followed by the descriptive representation strategy (participate as Muslims in existing political party). The group representation strategy (participate in the existing political system with a Muslim party) was evaluated most negatively. Furthermore, participants who perceived higher group-based power threat had more negative feelings towards political representation of Muslim immigrants, but less so towards disengaged immigrants. In addition, negative feelings were stronger towards Muslim versus Christian immigrants and this difference was somewhat more pronounced for the group representation and descriptive representation strategy compared to political disengagement.

Applying the acculturation framework to the political domain, this research examines how Dutch majority members and members of different minority groups evaluate the political acculturation strategies of an immigrant‐origin group. Using an experimental vignette design (N = 664), the results show that the strategy of political assimilation (only advance the interests of society) was evaluated most positively, followed by integration (advance the interest of society and of the minority group), and then separation (only advance the interest of the minority group). This was found for the native Dutch as well as the immigrant‐origin groups. This suggest that minority members do not view minority outgroups as potential allies to counter the dominance of the majority group, but rather as competitors for political influence. Furthermore, the role of dual identification for the evaluation of ingroup political acculturation depended on the type of political acculturation strategy.

This study examined interminority attitudes among a large sample (N = 1,987) of two minority groups (of Turkish and Moroccan origin) in the Netherlands. The focus is on their attitudes toward each other, toward a third ethnic minority group, and toward the native majority group. The aim is to simultaneously test theoretical predictions related to group categorization and group identification, intergroup contacts, and endorsement of multiculturalism. More social distance was reported toward the less-similar ethnic outgroup than the more-similar Muslim one. More contact with a particular outgroup was associated with less social distance toward that outgroup. There was evidence for secondary transfer effects of contact in relation to other ethnic minority outgroups, but not in relation to the native majority group. Stronger national identification and stronger endorsement of multiculturalism were both associated with less social distance toward all ethnic outgroups.

Using a Dutch national sample containing 7,158 respondents, we examined to what extent 1) ethnic background, 2) family characteristics and 3) migrant characteristics are related to ethnic distance, expressed through the intermarriage attitude, of the Dutch majority and four migrant groups: Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antilleans. First, our study showed that large differences in ethnic distance exist between the five ethnic groups. In concordance with notions of group status, the Dutch majority group showed relatively high levels of ethnic distance towards migrants. However, of the five ethnic groups under investigation, Moroccans reported the highest levels of ethnic distance. Second, results show that family cohesion, expressed through the adherence to strict family norms and contacts within the family network, is related to more resistance to ethnic intermarriage. This supports the idea that family cohesion fosters a preference for interactions with culturally similar persons since people from different cultural backgrounds can be seen as threatening the cultural identity and solidarity of one's own group. Traditional family values were related to more resistance, while qualitative good relations related negatively to the resistance to intermarriage. The last finding confirms the notion that affective and warm (family) relations increase tolerance and positive attitudes towards ethnic out-groups. Third, with respect to migrant characteristics, the results indicated that Dutch language proficiency leads to less resistance to ethnic intermarriage, while migration out of family reasons increases the resistance to ethnic intermarriage. No association was found between the intermarriage attitude and generational status or length of stay.

We set out to answer three questions: (a) to what extent do (former) EU candidate countries differ from Western European countries regarding opposition to civil rights for legal migrants? (b) to what extent do the (former) EU candidate countries differ among themselves in terms of this particular anti-immigrant sentiment, that is, opposition to civil rights for legal migrants? and (c) to what extent can we explain such cross-national differences, considering cross-national demographic or economic conditions, taking into account individual differences? We found that former EU candidate countries were really on comparable levels as EU member states in terms of opposition to civil rights for legal migrants. We found rather strong differences with countries like Estonia, Latvia and Hungary standing out, whereas countries like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Turkey showed low levels. We found that these differences were (rather strongly) explained by the migrant stock in the country. Although none of the other national characteristics turned out to reach significance, their parameters were in the direction we proposed.

Xenophobia among youngsters: the influence of interethnic contact. This study examines xenophobic attitudes of high school pupils. It answers the questions: To what extent do high school pupils from different ethnic backgrounds hold xenophobic attitudes? And to what are these attitudes
related with interethnic contact? Scientific progress is made in three ways. Firstly, attitudes of high school pupils from both the ethnic majority (Dutch) and the ethnic minority groups (Turks, Moroccans, and Caribbean) are examined. Secondly, the impact of positive as well as negative interethnic
contact within and outside the school environment is determined. And thirdly, hypotheses about interethnic contact are tested while simultaneously controlling for alternative mechanisms that explain xenophobic attitudes. The results show that most pupils have a low level of xenophobia. In
addition, the level of xenophobia is less when pupils evaluate their interethnic contacts both within and outside the school environment as positive and higher when they perceive these contacts as negative. However, the impact of positive interethnic contact in class disappears or even reverses
when multiculturalism is stressed more during lessons.