Abstract
This study advances a comprehensive analysis of the antecedents of xenophobia towards Palestinian citizens of Israel among Israeli immigrants from the former Soviet Union in comparison to nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis. We conducted a large-scale study of xenophobia in the face of terrorism in Israel by means of telephone surveys in September 2003 and analyzed a sample of 641 nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis and 131 immigrants. Findings obtained via interaction analyses and structural equation modeling show that a) immigrants are more xenophobic than nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis ; b) authoritarianism predicts xenophobia both among immigrants and non-immigrants; c) support for extreme right-wing political tendencies, as well as perceived psychosocial loss in response to terror, account for a significant portion of the variance in xenophobia, but only among nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis; and, finally, d) failure to undergo posttraumatic growth in response to terrorism (e.g., finding meaning in life, becoming closer to others) is a significant predictor of xenophobia only among immigrants. Results suggest that immigrant xenophobia is more a product of their experience of being immigrants, whereas nonimmigrant Jewish Israelis are more impacted by personal and social characteristics and their experiences when facing terrorism.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Working Paper of the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies |
Issue number | 327 |
State | Published - Oct 2006 |
Keywords
- Authoritarianism
- Conservation of resources theory
- Democratic norms and ideas
- Immigrants from the former Soviet Union
- Palestinian citizens of Israel
- Terrorism
- Xenophobia
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Development