Xenophobia among the Czech Population in the Context of Post-Communist Countries and Western Europe

Abstract

This article is based on data found in the European Values Study of 1999, & focuses on the following questions: (1) What is the degree of intensity of xenophobia among the Czech population in comparison with the states of Western & postcommunist Europe? (2) How is the view of the 'foreign' ethnic group differentiated? (3) What groupings among countries may be identified if we examine the character of xenophobic attitudes among the population? (4) What factors influence the level of xenophobia of an individual? In concurrence with the observations of other authors, the article confirms the overall high degree of intensity of xenophobia among the population of postcommunist countries in comparison with advanced Western states. The intensity of xenophobia attitudes among the Czech population (measured through an overall index of xenophobia) roughly corresponds to the average attitudes of the entire sample. From the viewpoint of attitudes toward individual 'foreign' ethnic groups (people of different race: Muslims; immigrants & migrant workers, Jews, Roma), the respondents expressed the strongest rejection of the Roma, & were the most tolerantly inclined toward the Jewish ethnic group. The data essentially enabled a partial identification of traits for a profile of a xenophobe, as an older individual, with a lower level of education, & in a certain sense a marginalized 'victim' of the modernization process (transformation), on the whole insecure, distrustful, & at the same time authoritarian in nature.