Xenophobia and referenda: an example of the exploratory use of ecological regression.

Three referenda have been held in Switzerland in the 1970s on the issue of whether the number of foreign workers in the country should be restricted. Voting for such restrictions suggests xenophobic attitudes and the pattern of results asks whether there is a geography to such xenophobia. Ecological regression analyses, using both social (political cleavage) and geographical (local issue salience) variables, suggest a complex set of inter-relationships; in general the German-speaking areas appear to have been more xenophobic in the early 1970s, but the Roman Catholic areas were at the latest referendum. - AuthorSwitzerland foreign workers German speaking areas Roman Catholic areas