there is a different approach applied by scholars in the European setting. As highlighted in the quality appraisal chapter, some studies do not include a critical and clear discussion of their measurements, further complicating the interpretation of these and strength of their findings. The following will take these aspects into account as we analyse the findings in the included studies. Impact of immigration in changing welfare support Overall, the following will show how levels of generality make a difference and can help explain differences in impact of immigration on support for the welfare state. In addition we shall see that different types of measures have different effect. Contact theory appears to explain positive effects of immigration on concern for the living condition of needy groups on a macro-level whilst self-interest, as in the previous chapter, is found to play an important role at the individual level. Furthermore, socialisation at the individual level measured by education seems to be more important when it comes to mediate the relationship between immigration and support for the welfare state than when it comes to other welfare pressures. Again, then, as in the previous chapter, we find evidence for a ‘political man’ as citizens react and are shaped by a framework and respond to their changes. Table 7.2 shows the direction (1 for positive, -1 for negative or 0 for no effect) of the effects found to be statistically significant within and across the 13 studies. This is the same approach taken in the previous chapter when analysing redistribution and analyses effect of immigration and ethnic diversity separately for societal and situational levels of generality. The project here assumes that redistribution is at societal level of generality, despite measurements sometimes focussing on specific objects. This is done to explore and try to distinguish any differences by measurement but could lead to a finding that there are no differences as some measurements would be at the same level of generality. Empty cells mean that the variable was not included in a study. An advantage of systematic review synthesis over a traditional literature review can be argued to be that it produces systematic overviews within and across studies’ findings. This
there is a different approach applied by scholars in the European setting. As highlighted in the quality appraisal chapter, some studies do not include a critical and clear discussion of their measurements, further complicating the interpretation of these and strength of their findings. The following will take these aspects into account as we analyse the findings in the included studies. Impact of immigration in changing welfare support Overall, the following will show how levels of generality make a difference and can help explain differences in impact of immigration on support for the welfare state. In addition we shall see that different types of measures have different effect. Contact theory appears to explain positive effects of immigration on concern for the living condition of needy groups on a macro-level whilst self-interest, as in the previous chapter, is found to play an important role at the individual level. Furthermore, socialisation at the individual level measured by education seems to be more important when it comes to mediate the relationship between immigration and support for the welfare state than when it comes to other welfare pressures. Again, then, as in the previous chapter, we find evidence for a ‘political man’ as citizens react and are shaped by a framework and respond to their changes. Table 7.2 shows the direction (1 for positive, -1 for negative or 0 for no effect) of the effects found to be statistically significant within and across the 13 studies. This is the same approach taken in the previous chapter when analysing redistribution and analyses effect of immigration and ethnic diversity separately for societal and situational levels of generality. The project here assumes that redistribution is at societal level of generality, despite measurements sometimes focussing on specific objects. This is done to explore and try to distinguish any differences by measurement but could lead to a finding that there are no differences as some measurements would be at the same level of generality. Empty cells mean that the variable was not included in a study. An advantage of systematic review synthesis over a traditional literature review can be argued to be that it produces systematic overviews within and across studies’ findings. This