Measuring contemporary prejudice toward immigrants in Germany

Richard Alba

Michelle Johnson

pp. 119-141

in: Richard Alba, Peter Schmidt, Martina Wasmer (eds), Germans or foreigners?, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Abstract

Prejudice evolves in its forms, and so must the instruments that measure it. This is demonstrated by the American record of research on racial attitudes, in which the repeated use of survey items has been a tool for following attitudinal shifts over long periods of time. In a model of this type of research, Schuman et al. (1997) are able to track responses to some survey questions over a five-decade period, identifying change and stability in white Americans' attitudes toward their black fellow citizens.