Comparing Negative Attitudes Toward the Unemployed Across European Countries in 2008 and 2016: The Role of the Unemployment Rate and Job Insecurity

We explore how negative attitudes toward the unemployed are related to countries’ overall and long-term (LT) unemployment rate. Insights from the risk attribution and position theory are combined with the in-group–out-group conflict model, derived from migration literature. Multilevel analyses are performed on two waves (2008 and 2016) of the European Social Survey. Negative attitudes toward the unemployed are measured via the item “most...