This book examines contemporary attitudes towards ethnic minorities in Germany. These minorities include some of immigrant origin, such as Italians, Turks, and asylum seekers, and the principal non-immigrant minority, Jews. While the findings demonstrate that intense prejudice against minorities is not widespread among Germans, many of whom in fact can be considered immigrant- and minority-friendly, a crystallization of attitudes is also evident: that is, attitudes towards immigrants are strongly correlated with anti-Semitism and with other worldview dimensions, such as positioning in the left-right political spectrum. In this sense, the fundamental question of whether immigrants and other minorities should be regarded as fellow citizens or ethnic outsiders remains relevant in the German context.

Key topic in European studies

Introduction; R.Alba The Ethnic and Demographic Structure of Foreigners and Immigrants in Germany; R.Munz & R.Ulrich On the Economic and Social Situations of Immigrants Living in Germany; S.Bender & W.Seifert Ethnocentrism in Germany: Worldview Connections and Social Contexts; M.Terwey The Others and We: Relationships between Germans and Non-Germans from the Point of View of Foreigners Living in Germany; S.Kuhnel & J.Leibold Measuring Contemporary Prejudice Towards Immigrants in Germany; R.Alba & M.Johnson Anti-Semitism in the Late 1990's; W.Bergmann & R.Erb Foreigners as Second Class Citizens?: Attitudes Toward Equal Civil Rights for Non-Germans; M.Wasmer & A.Koch Authoritarianism and Ethnocentrism in East and West Germany: Does the System Matter?; P.Schmidt & A.Heyder Ethnocentrism and Support for Extreme-Right Parties, 1980-1996; U.Rosar Social Distance and Physical Proximity: Day-to-Day Attitudes and Experience of Foreigners and Germans Living in the Same Residential Areas; F.Boltken Regional Influences on Attitudes Towards Foreigners; J.H.P.Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik