Anti-Immigrant Attitudes and Longing for an America that Never Really Existed

Megan Earle
Mar 11
5 min read

This work is a summary of a full-length research article published in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Get a complete copy by downloading it from the journal’s website.

Research Tools Used for This Project: literature review, archival data, survey data, experimental design, R (programming language), Qualtrics, Amazon MTurk, multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, data visualization

Cultural shifts, such as changes in racial diversity, whether real or perceived, have played a major role in shaping American politics over the past decade. Moreover, differences in how to respond to such changes are a major cause of political division in the United States. For example, the Republican slogan “Make America Great Again” reflects a desire to return to an earlier time in American culture, suggesting a reversal of certain cultural shifts. On the other hand, Democratic slogans like “A New Way Forward” encourage embracing new directions.

While many Americans agree that changes are happening, there is clear disagreement about how to respond. Research shows that some White Americans feel threatened by demographic changes, particularly the idea that White people might become a racial minority in the future. These feelings of threat can lead to prejudice against racial minorities and stronger anti-immigrant attitudes. However, increasing racial diversity also creates opportunities for people from different racial groups to interact. For some people, these interactions can help build positive relationships and reduce prejudice.

Why might some people respond so differently to changes in America’s racial makeup? Part of the answer may lie in how White Americans see themselves and their racial identity. Studies show that feeling connected to a group can be an important part of someone’s identity, but it can also lead to pushing back against those who are seen as outsiders.

This two-study project looked at how White Americans respond to changes in racial diversity, both real and perceived, and how this varies based on their views about their own racial identity. Understanding these patterns can help create strategies to reduce prejudice as society continues to change.

Increases in racial diversity is associated with anti-immigrant attitudes, but only for highly White-identified Americans

In Study 1 data collected from 2257 White Americans were paired with regional demographic statistics to examine how local changes in the non-White population was related to anti-immigrant attitudes. Results showed that, when living in an area characterized by a larger increase in racial diversity, participants who felt that being White was very important to their identity were more likely to express anti-immigrant attitudes. In contrast, those who felt that being White was not very important to their identity showed lower anti-immigrant attitudes when living in an area that experienced a larger racial shift.

These findings indicate that for highly White-identified Americans, increases in racial diversity are seen as a threat, which can lead to anti-immigrant prejudice. However, for White Americans who do not see their racial identity as important to who they are, increases in racial diversity might foster greater opportunities to interact with people from different groups. In turn, this cross-group contact may ultimately reduce prejudice.

White identification and longing for America’s by-gone days

Study 2 examined how anticipating increases in racial diversity might elicit collective nostalgia, or a longing for America’s past. Research shows that nostalgia can make people feel good in the face of threat. However, feeling nostalgic about one’s country is linked to negative attitudes toward policies and groups that seem to move the country further away from how it “used to be”. Typically, this form of cultural nostalgia is vague, and more about a perception of how a country used to be during an ambiguous time in the past, rather than how it truly ever was.

Given that highly White-identified Americans see increases in racial diversity as a threat, anticipating such changes may elicit more nostalgia as a means to lessen this negative feeling. However, this longing for America’s past may also be partly responsible for anti-immigrant attitudes among this group.

To test this hypothesis, 420 White Americans were randomly assigned to read either an article about growing racial diversity or a control article. They were also asked about their identity and their attitudes toward immigrants.

Perceived increases in racial diversity predicted greater longing for America’s past, but only among highly White-identified Americans

Results indicated that when Americans read about growing racial diversity, participants who felt that being White was important to their identity reported greater longing for America’s past. In contrast, those who felt that being White was not that important to them showed no significant change after reading about racial diversity.

Greater longing for America’s past is related to more anti-immigrant attitudes

People who felt a stronger longing for America’s past were more likely to have negative attitudes toward immigrants. This is consistent with the idea that while nostalgia can help people feel better when they are threatened, longing for a vague perception of America’s past can lead to prejudice against those who are seen as responsible for changing the country.

What it means

Although nostalgia is generally considered a positive emotion, and one that can foster a sense of personal well-being, it can be harmful when nostalgia is felt about one’s culture. This is especially true for Americans who view their Whiteness as an important part of their identity, as these Americans are more likely to feel threatened by racial diversity and thus, feel nostalgic about their country’s past in response. This vague, rose-coloured longing for “how things used to be” is ultimately based on an America that never really existed, but is a feeling that nonetheless has real and negative implications for people and policies in the present.