Recent years have witnessed a rise in support for political parties with an anti-immigration
sentiment and nationalistic rhetoric as their distinguishing traits. Within this context, our study,
through a survey, analyses the relation of prejudice toward immigrants with ideological postulates
of right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance and outgroup threat. With a sample of 247
individuals (54.7% men and 45.3% women), our results reveal that positions favouring right-wing
authoritarianism and social dominance and perception of realistic and symbolic threat have an
influence on negative attitudes toward immigrants. At the same time, greater prejudice is found
in those individuals scoring high in authoritarianism and symbolic threat. These results confirm,
on one hand, the dual process motivation model of ideology and prejudice, and on the other, the
bifactor structure of outgroup threat. As a conclusion, we propose that in order to foment peaceful
coexistence and reduce hostility towards minority groups within today’s social context, it is important
to consider the relevance of ideological postulates and outgroup threat. It is a priority to design
public policies that favour the inclusion and integration of minority groups with the goal of building
more sustainable societies that respect human rights.
