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Globalization is often conceptualized as a world without borders, of which cross-national mobility is a key element. Scholarship on attitudes toward immigrants, however, tends to focus solely on wealthy Western nations and overlook other nations. In this paper we test current explanations of attitudes toward immigrants and foreign-workers using the 2000 World Values Survey, which includes respondents from countries as diverse as Algeria, Bangladesh, Sweden and the United-States (N=59). Using Hierarchal Level Modeling, we examine individual-level and country-level influences on attitudes toward immigrants. We find that anti-foreigner sentiments are embedded within national contexts and social location. In countries with higher standards of living (HDI), individuals report on lower levels of anti-immigrants sentiment. Further, in countries with higher standards of living, education and political orientation have stronger association with levels of anti-immigrants sentiment than in other countries. In striking contrast to previous research, we find no correlation between domestic immigrant population and anti-immigrant sentiment ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have observed that many wealthy nations seem to be expanding family policies, despite a climate of overall welfare retrenchment. Has family policy in fact expanded? If so, what factors are associated with this expansion? What specific policies are enjoying widespread adoption, and what policies (if any) are in decline? I analyze the growth of expenditures in 27 advanced industrialized nations, taking into account the impact of female labor force participation, fertility rates, and EU membership on trajectories. I also look at comparative expenditures on specific family policies, including cash child benefits, childcare, and parental leave. I find that while family policy has expanded over time, it has not done so uniformly. Rising female labor force participation explains some of the increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiculturalism emerged as an important issue in Germany in the decade before unification, and minority rights, immigration reform and nationalization policy remain as important challenges to united Germany. But is multiculturalism a source of cultural convergence or persistent east-west divisions? We draw on survey evidence from the International Social Survey Program, the Eurobarometer, and the European Social Surveys to examine trends in attitudes towards minorities and German identity since unification. Two decades after German unification, cultural cleavages between the old and new federal states are largely seen as the legacy of two generations of capitalist democracy in the west, and state socialism in the east. The challenge of multiculturalism in Germany, however, is shaped by legacies of immigration. Germany is one of the most diverse nations in Europe, but this diversity is much less evident in the new federal states. In the absence of social contact with ethnic and religious minorities, anti-minority sentiment remains strong in the new federal states and presents an ongoing challenge in unified Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]