Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe 401 this light,immigration is an issue that raises fundamental questions about values and identities among individuals,debates over immigration are shaped less by labor- market competition than by cultural conflict,and the division between more-and less-educated natives is primarily a cultural or ideological distinction. Which of these interpretations is more correct?Is the main motivator for oppo- sition to immigration the threat of economic competition,felt most acutely among the less educated?Or is it a deeper animosity toward foreigners and foreign cul- tures,felt least strongly among the more educated?The answer to this question is critical to our understanding of the politics of immigration and the treatment of ethnic minorities.It is crucial,too,for policymakers and others who support immi- gration and worry about the growth of extremist,often violent,anti-immigrant movements.If anti-immigration sentiments are based primarily on economic cal- culations,there are some very direct ways in which policymakers might address them:for instance,by targeting forms of adjustment assistance and job creation programs toward the communities or industries in which the economic impact is felt most heavily.If opposition to immigration is motivated by more deep-seated cultural factors,on the other hand,these types of adjustment assistance are unlikely to be effective and it is much more difficult to imagine simple,short-run measures that would mitigate the political tensions. We examine new data on attitudes toward immigration available from the 2003 European Social Survey (ESS).Unlike other sources of survey data on attitudes toward immigrants,the 2003 ESS provides a rich,detailed set of questions about the immigration issue,probing respondents'views about immigrants from differ- ent countries.The detailed data allow us to provide new tests of the labor-market competition explanation for anti-immigration sentiments among European voters. We focus,in particular,on the complex relationship between education and atti- tudes toward immigration.Our results indicate that,in contrast to predictions based on the conventional arguments about labor-market competition,which anticipate that individuals will oppose immigration of workers with similar skills to their own but support immigration of workers with different skill levels,people with higher education levels are more likely to favor immigration regardless of where the immigrants come from and their likely skill attributes.Across Europe,higher education means more support for all types of immigrants.This is true for alter- native measures of education in all twenty-two ESS countries.The same relation- ship holds for direct (occupational)measures of respondent skill levels:higher skills are associated with greater support for all types of immigration.These rela- tionships are almost identical among those in the labor force and those not in the labor force. The findings thus suggest that,contrary to the conventional wisdom,the con- nection between the educational or skill attributes of individuals and their views about immigration appears to have very little,if anything,to do with fears about labor-market competition.The conventional story appears to be based on a funda- mental misinterpretation of the available evidence.We find that a large com- ponent of the effect of education on individual attitudes toward immigrants isthis light, immigration is an issue that raises fundamental questions about values and identities among individuals, debates over immigration are shaped less by labor￾market competition than by cultural conflict, and the division between more- and less-educated natives is primarily a cultural or ideological distinction+ Which of these interpretations is more correct? Is the main motivator for oppo￾sition to immigration the threat of economic competition, felt most acutely among the less educated? Or is it a deeper animosity toward foreigners and foreign cul￾tures, felt least strongly among the more educated? The answer to this question is critical to our understanding of the politics of immigration and the treatment of ethnic minorities+ It is crucial, too, for policymakers and others who support immi￾gration and worry about the growth of extremist, often violent, anti-immigrant movements+ If anti-immigration sentiments are based primarily on economic cal￾culations, there are some very direct ways in which policymakers might address them: for instance, by targeting forms of adjustment assistance and job creation programs toward the communities or industries in which the economic impact is felt most heavily+ If opposition to immigration is motivated by more deep-seated cultural factors, on the other hand, these types of adjustment assistance are unlikely to be effective and it is much more difficult to imagine simple, short-run measures that would mitigate the political tensions+ We examine new data on attitudes toward immigration available from the 2003 European Social Survey ~ESS!+ Unlike other sources of survey data on attitudes toward immigrants, the 2003 ESS provides a rich, detailed set of questions about the immigration issue, probing respondents’ views about immigrants from differ￾ent countries+ The detailed data allow us to provide new tests of the labor-market competition explanation for anti-immigration sentiments among European voters+ We focus, in particular, on the complex relationship between education and atti￾tudes toward immigration+ Our results indicate that, in contrast to predictions based on the conventional arguments about labor-market competition, which anticipate that individuals will oppose immigration of workers with similar skills to their own but support immigration of workers with different skill levels, people with higher education levels are more likely to favor immigration regardless of where the immigrants come from and their likely skill attributes+ Across Europe, higher education means more support for all types of immigrants+ This is true for alter￾native measures of education in all twenty-two ESS countries+ The same relation￾ship holds for direct ~occupational! measures of respondent skill levels: higher skills are associated with greater support for all types of immigration+ These rela￾tionships are almost identical among those in the labor force and those not in the labor force+ The findings thus suggest that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the con￾nection between the educational or skill attributes of individuals and their views about immigration appears to have very little, if anything, to do with fears about labor-market competition+ The conventional story appears to be based on a funda￾mental misinterpretation of the available evidence+ We find that a large com￾ponent of the effect of education on individual attitudes toward immigrants is Attitudes Toward Immigration in Europe 401