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Attitudes toward foreigners are influenced by socio-demographic characteristics, individual behavioral variables, political socializaion, and geographical location. Socio-demographic characteristics include age and education in particular, as well as employment status (see, inter alia, Hagstotz, 1986). One variable grounded in individual behavior is contact with foreigners (see, inter alia, Krauth and Porst, 1984, 253), which, as Hagstotz (1986) has demonstrated, is a central variable for explaining attitudes toward foreigners. Contact is, of course, contingent on opportunity, that is, on the presence of the contact person. The presence and composition of social groups, however, are features of a geographic area. Geographic areas in turn possess numerous characteristics that influence behavior, such as degree of urbanness, mix of housing types and population density, as well as networks and resources that influence educational training and employment. Geographic area is also the locus of political socialization, as revealed by comparisons of eastern and western Germany at both a high aggregate level and a lower one, where local radical Right-wing 'strongholds' become visible.

DOI: 10.1057/9780230608825_12

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