Shutting the Gates in South Africa: National Identification and Popular Attitudes towards Closing Borders to Immigration

More than a hundred thousand people crisscross South Africa's international borders annually. Public opinion on this cross‐border migration is decidedly hostile. According to a 2013 opinion poll, more than three‐fifths of the adult population would favour closing the border. Can civic and ethnic identifications with the nation explain this opposition to immigration? Using data from the 12th (2013) round of the cross‐sectional South African Social Attitudes Survey (N= 2,739) this paper was able to investigate individual attitudes towards border control. This paper investigates different dimensi... Mehr ...