Is immigration detrimental for social trust in the European Union? A three-level model of cultural heterogeneity and citizenship regime as social capital predictors

Abstract

This paper deals with the effects of citizenship regimes on the relationship between immigration and social capital, in the European Union. The study questions previous researches that reported a negative effect of immigration on social capital without taking into account contextual factors, like citizenship regimes, that may affect the interconnections between the two variables. The implementation of a Three-level Model, analyzing Eurobarometer and Eurostat datasets and crossing individual, national and citizenship regime’s levels of analysis, permits to report two notable results: first, immigration is not always detrimental for social trust; second, more integrative citizenship regimes alleviate the negative effects of immigration on social trust. These findings suggest that creating a legislative environment that facilitates the inclusion of different ethnic groups into the society in order to avoid the worst consequences of ethnic heterogeneity, like isolation, clashes and a decline in social trust should be of great importance to policy-makers.