The anti-racism norm in Western European immigration politics: Why we need to consider it and how to measure it

In this article, we propose a new research agenda aimed at improving theoretical and empirical models of immigration politics in Western Europe. In short, we argue for explicitly taking into account the social norm against racism that is neglected in existing research in this area. In theoretical terms, we draw on existing political science literature on European immigration and US race politics as well as on work in social psychology to explain why and how we think the anti-racism norm influences opinion formation, the political behaviour of individuals, and the effectiveness of various parties' mobilization strategies. In empirical terms, we propose and present results from a pilot study validating two individual-level measures of the anti-racism norm - one that measures external motivation to control prejudice and another that measures internal motivation. The pilot study shows that the anti-racism norm exists and can be meaningfully measured in a Western European context. We conclude that the suggested research agenda appears theoretically promising and empirically feasible. © 2010 Elections, Public Opinion & Parties.