Impact of ethnic closeness and socio-economic status of migrants on the empathy of domicile population in Serbia
Abstract
The goal of this research is to examine the factors that influence the empathic reactions of the local Serbian population toward migrants. The variance analysis has indicated differences in the perception between refugees from the Middle East, who evoke the lowest empathy, and refugees from Eastern Europe, who evoke the greatest empathy. Ethnicity has proved to be significant in discrimination against migrants, unlike the socio-economic factor, but the interaction between these two factors had marginal significance. In addition to these findings, the influence of the context has also been established. The respondents do not differentiate between groups when discrimination occurs, and they show empathy towards all migrants in distress, but if migrants receive certain forms of assistance, preferences arise towards ethnically closer groups with a lower socioeconomic status.
References
Attitudes towards refugees and migrants – the Research Report for June (2020). Psychosocial Innovation Network & Fondacija za otvoreno društvo. [In Serbian]
Batson, C. D., Ahmad, N. Y. (2009). Using empathy to improve intergroup attitudes and relations. Social issues and policy review, 3 (1), 141–177.
Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (2020). The Right to Asylum in the Republic of Serbia in 2019. Beograd. Retrieved from http://azil.rs/azil_novi/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pravo-na-azil-u-Srbiji-2019.pdf
Belgrade Centre for Human Rights. (2022). The Right to Asylum in the Republic of Serbia in 2021. Beograd. Retrieved from http://azil.rs/azil_novi/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Pravo-na-azil-u-Srbiji-2021.pdf
Bobić, M., Babović, M. (2013). International Migration in Serbia: Facts and policies. Sociologija, 55 (2), 209–228. https://doi.org/10.2298/soc1302209B [In Serbian]
Bobić, M. (2013) . Immigration in Serbia: Condition and Perspectives, Tolerance and Integration. Demografija 10, 99–115. http://www.gef.bg.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/Demografija10.pdf [In Serbian]
CeSid. (2019). Citizens’ Attitudes towards the Impact of the Refugee and Migration Crisis in 19 local self-government units in Serbia. Beograd.
Cikara, M., Fiske, S. T. (2013). Their pain, our pleasure: Stereotype content and schaden-freude. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1299 (1), 52–59. https://doi. org/10.1111/nyas.12179
Čekerevac, A., Perišić, N., Tanasijević, J. (2018). Social Services for Migrants – the Case of Serbia. Hrvatska i komparativna javna uprava, 18 (1), 101–125. https://doi.org/10.31297/hkju.18.1.2
De Coninck, D. (2020). Migrant categorizations and European public opinion: Diverging attitudes towards immigrants and refugees. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46 (9), 1667–1686. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1694406
De Coninck, D. (2023). The Refugee Paradox During Wartime in Europe: How Ukrainian and Afghan Refugees are (not) Alike. International Migration Review, 57 (2), 578–586. https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183221116874
Dustmann, C., Preston, I. P. (2007). Racial and Economic Factors in Attitudes to Immigration. The B..E.. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 7 (1). https://doi.org/10.2202/1935-1682.1655
Froehlich, L., Schulte, I. (2019). Warmth and competence stereotypes about immigrant groups in Germany. Plos one, 14 (9), e0223103.
Hudson, S. T. J., Cikara, M., Sidanius, J. (2019). Preference for hierarchy is associated with reduced empathy and increased counter-empathy towards others, especially out-group targets. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 85, 103871. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103871
International Organization for Migration & United Nations. (2022). World migration report. Geneva: International Organization for Migration.
Jetten, J. (2019). The wealth paradox: Prosperity and opposition to immigration. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49 (6), 1097–1113. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2552
Jovanovic Ajzenhamer, N. (2020). Islam ante portas: Application of Bauman’s theory of a foreigner to the analysis of social distance towards Muslim migrants in Serbia. Glasnik Etnografskog instituta, 68 (3), 749–771. https://doi.org/10.2298/GEI2003749J [In Serbian]
Commissariat for Refugees and Migrants of the Republic of Serbia (2023). The Migration Profile of the Republic of Serbia for 2022. https://kirs.gov.rs/lat/migracije/migracio-ni-profil-republike-srbije
Kotzur, P. F., Friehs, M. T., Asbrock, F., Van Zalk, M. H. (2019). Stereotype content of refugee subgroups in Germany. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49 (7), 1344–1358.
Leach, C. W., Spears, R., Branscombe, N. R., Doosje, B. (2003). Malicious pleasure: schaden-freude at the suffering of another group. Journal of personality and social psychology, 84 (5), 932.
Mackie, D. M., Smith, E. R. (Eds.). (2016). From Prejudice to Intergroup Emotions. Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315783000
Naumann, E., F. Stoetzer, L., Pietrantuono, G. (2018). Attitudes towards highly skilled and low‐skilled immigration in Europe: A survey experiment in 15 European countries. European Journal of Political Research, 57 (4), 1009–1030. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12264
Papadopoulou Kourkoula, A. (2008). Transit Migration. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230583801
Pereira, C., Vala, J., Costa‐Lopes, R. (2010). From prejudice to discrimination: The legitimiz-ing role of perceived threat in discrimination against immigrants. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40 (7), 1231–1250. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.718
Perišić, N. (2016). The Serbian Welfare State: A Transition Loser. In: K. Schubert, P. de
Villota & J. Kuhlmann (eds.). Challenges to European Welfare Systems (pp. 647–669). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07680-5_28
Petrović, J., Pešić, J. (2017). Between integration, security and humanitarianism: Serbian citizens’ attitudes towards migrants. Stanovništvo, 55 (2), 25–51. https://doi.org/10.2298/STNV1702025P [In Serbian]
Petrović, J., Šuvaković, U. (2013). ‘We’ and ‘others’: stereotype attitudes of Serbian student youth. RUDN Journal of Sociology (4), 52–65. Available at: https://journals.rudn.ru/sociology/article/view/6332
Quillian, L. (1995). Prejudice as a Response to Perceived Group Threat: Population Composition and Anti-Immigrant and Racial Prejudice in Europe. American Sociological Review, 60 (4), 586. https://doi.org/10.2307/2096296
Sekelj, L. (2000) . Ethnic Distance, Xenophobia and Ethno-nationalist Manipulation. Sociologija, (1), 1–24. [In Serbian]
Sironi, A. C. Bauloz, M. Emmanuel (eds.). (2019). Glossary on Migration. International Migration Law, no. 34. International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva.
Stephan, W. G., Ybarra, O., Bachman, G. (1999). Prejudice Toward Immigrants 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29 (11), 2221–2237. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1999.tb00107.x
Takahashi, H., Kato, M., Matsuura, M., Mobbs, D., Suhara, T., Okubo, Y. (2009). When Your Gain Is My Pain and Your Pain Is My Gain: Neural Correlates of Envy and Schadenfreude. Science, 323 (5916), 937–939. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1165604
Verkuyten, M., Mepham, K., Kros, M. (2018). Public attitudes towards support for migrants: the importance of perceived voluntary and involuntary migration. Ethnic and racial studies, 41 (5), 901–918.
Wyszynski, M. C., Guerra, R., Bierwiaczonek, K. (2020). Good refugees, bad migrants? Intergroup helping orientations toward refugees, migrants, and economic migrants in Germany. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 50 (10), 607–618.
Xuereb, S. (2023). Emotions, perceived threat, prejudice, and attitudes towards helping Ukrainian, Syrian, and Somali asylum seekers. PLOS ONE, 18 (9), e0290335. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290335
Župarić Iljić, D., Gregurović, M. (2013). Students’ Attitudes towards Asylum Seekers in the Republic of Croatia. Društvena istraživanja, 22 (1), 41–62. https://doi.org/10.5559/di.22.1.03 [In Croatian]
Europe. (2022). Retrieved 8 August 2022, from https://reporting.unhcr.org/europe
We had a beautiful city, but we no longer have it: How Ukrainian refugees live in Serbia. BBC News in Serbian. (2022). Retrieved 8 August 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/svet-61758399
We have come to stay here: why Russian IT experts open companies in Serbia. BBC News in Serbian. (2022). Retrieved 8 August 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/srbija-61378056
Serbia, E. (2023, January 16). About 200,000 Russians came to Serbia last year, and with then numerous changes that have been already felt by many – in their wallets. Euronews. rs. https://www.euronews.rs/biznis/biznis-vesti/73853/u-srbiju-je-prosle-godine-doslo-oko-200000-rusa-a-sa-njima-i-brojne-promene-koje-su-mnogi-vec-osetili-u-novcaniku/vest
The refugee and migrant crisis. (2022). Retrieved 8 August 2022, from https://www.unicef.org/serbia/en/refugee-and-migrant-crisis
Copyright (c) 2024 Sociološki pregled
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.