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  • NEWS Q&A

Why hidden xenophobia is surging into the open

Sociologist Mathew Creighton discusses how events in Europe in the past month are fed by people’s covert prejudices.
  1. Emma Marris

    1. Emma Marris is an environmental writer who lives in Oregon.

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Anti-immigrant sentiment is playing a major part in current events across Europe and North America. Ireland is reeling from destructive far-right riots in Dublin in November. Also last month, the Dutch Party for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders — a staunch and unapologetic opponent of Islam and immigration — won 37 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, the nation’s lower house. In the past two years, Sweden, Italy and Finland have elected right-wing governments. And in the United States, a second Donald Trump presidency threatens.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03973-9

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

References

  1. Scheve, K. F. and Slaughter, M. J. Rev. Econ. Stat. 83, 1 (2001).

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