World Publics Welcome Global Trade -- But Not Immigration
*Released:* 10.04.07
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Summary of Findings
*Summary of Findings*
Complete Report <http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/258.pdf> (1.9MB .pdf)
Trend Topline <http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/258topline.pdf>:
Includes current results as well as trends from previous surveys (1.2MB
.pdf)
Figure
The publics of the world broadly embrace key tenets of economic
globalization but fear the disruptions and downsides of participating in
the global economy. In rich countries as well as poor ones, most people
endorse free trade, multinational corporations and free markets.
However, the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey of more than 45,000
people finds they are concerned about inequality, threats to their
culture, threats to the environment and threats posed by immigration.
Together, these results reveal an evolving world view on globalization
that is nuanced, ambivalent, and sometimes inherently contradictory.
There are signs that enthusiasm for economic globalization is waning in
the West -- Americans and Western Europeans are less supportive of
international trade and multinational companies than they were five
years ago. In contrast, there is near universal approval of global trade
among the publics of rising Asian economic powers China and India.
The survey also finds that globalization is only one of several
wide-ranging social and economic forces that are rapidly reshaping the
world. Strong majorities in developing countries endorse core democratic
values, but people are less likely to say their countries are ensuring
free speech, delivering honest elections or providing fair trials to
all. Conflicting views on the relationship between religion and morality
sharply divide the world. But on gender issues, the survey finds that a
global consensus has emerged on the importance of education for both
girls and boys, while most people outside the Muslim world also say that
women and men make equally good political leaders.
Costs and Benefits of Globalization
Overwhelmingly, the surveyed publics see the benefits of increasing
global commerce and free market economies. In all 47 nations included in
the survey, large majorities believe that international trade is
benefiting their countries. For the most part, the multinational
corporations that dominate global commerce receive favorable ratings.
Nonetheless, since 2002 enthusiasm for trade has declined significantly
in the United States, Italy, France and Britain, and views of
multinationals are less positive in Western countries where economic
growth has been relatively modest in recent years.
In most countries, majorities believe that people are better off under
capitalism, even if it means that some may be rich and others poor.
Support for free markets has increased notably over the past five years
in Latin American and Eastern European nations, where increased
satisfaction with income and perceptions of personal progress are linked
to higher per capita incomes.
Figure
But there are widely shared concerns about the free flow of people,
ideas and resources that globalization entails. In nearly every country
surveyed, people worry about losing their traditional culture and
national identities, and they feel their way of life needs protection
against foreign influences. Importantly, the poll finds widespread
concerns about immigration. Moreover, there is a strong link between
immigration fears and concerns about threats to a country's culture and
traditions. Those who worry the most about immigration also tend to see
the greatest need for protecting traditional ways of life against
foreign influences.
Immigration Fears
In both affluent countries in the West and in the developing world,
people are concerned about immigration. Large majorities in nearly every
country surveyed express the view that there should be greater
restriction of immigration and tighter control of their country's borders.
Although Western publics remain concerned about immigration, they
generally are less likely to back tighter controls today than they were
five years ago, despite heated controversies over this issue in both
Europe and the United States over the last few years. In Italy, however,
support for greater restrictions has increased -- 87% now support more
controls on immigration, up seven points from 2002.
Concerns about immigration have increased in other countries as well,
perhaps most notably in Jordan, where an influx of Iraqi refugees has
raised the salience of this issue -- 70% of Jordanians back tighter
immigration controls, up from 48% five years ago.
Religion and Social Issues
Global publics are sharply divided over the relationship between
religion and morality. In much of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East,
there is a strong consensus that belief in God is necessary for morality
and good values. Throughout much of Europe, however, majorities think
morality is achievable without faith. Meanwhile, opinions are more mixed
in the Americas, including in the United States, where 57% say that one
must believe in God to have good values and be moral, while 41% disagree.
Figure
The survey finds a strong relationship between a country's religiosity
and its economic status. In poorer nations, religion remains central to
the lives of individuals, while secular perspectives are more common in
richer nations.^1 This relationship generally is consistent across
regions and countries, although there are some exceptions, including
most notably the United States, which is a much more religious country
than its level of prosperity would indicate. Other nations deviate from
the pattern as well, including the oil-rich, predominantly Muslim -- and
very religious -- kingdom of Kuwait.
The survey also measured global opinion about contemporary social
issues, finding a mix of traditional and progressive views. Throughout
Western Europe and much of the Americas, there is widespread tolerance
towards homosexuality. However, the United States, Japan, South Korea,
and Israel stand apart from other wealthy nations on this issue; in each
of these countries, fewer than half of those surveyed say homosexuality
should be accepted by society. Meanwhile, in most of Africa, Asia and
the Middle East, there is less tolerance toward homosexuality.
Regarding gender issues, there is a broad consensus that both boys and
girls should receive an education. In all 47 countries surveyed, at
least seven-in-ten respondents believe that education is equally
important for boys and girls. Most publics also believe that men and
women are equally qualified for political leadership, although there is
less agreement on this issue. Notably, in several predominantly Muslim
publics -- including Mali, the Palestinian territories, Kuwait, Pakistan
and Bangladesh -- majorities say that men make better political leaders.
The survey also asked about another often contentious gender issue:
Muslim women wearing the veil. In 15 of 16 Muslim publics surveyed,
majorities say women should have the right to decide whether they wear a
veil. Women generally are more likely than men to express this opinion.
Views of Democracy
Most key democratic principles are broadly supported throughout the
developing world. Large majorities in most of the 35 developing
countries surveyed strongly value religious freedom and an impartial
judicial system. Somewhat smaller majorities endorse honest multiparty
elections, free speech and a media free from government censorship. But
majorities in only six nations rate civilian control of the military as
very important, the least valued of the six core democratic principles
tested.
While basic democratic freedoms are prized throughout the developing
world, experiencing such liberties is another matter. This "democracy
gap" is generally widest in the Middle East. In Lebanon, for example,
more than eight-in-ten people view free speech, honest multiparty
elections and a fair judicial system as "very important." But the number
of Lebanese who believe these characteristics describe their country
"very well" is much lower -- only 36% for free speech, 23% for a fair
judicial system, and 17% for multiparty elections.
As in past surveys, majorities in predominantly Muslim nations continue
to believe Western-style democracy can work in their countries. But in
the current poll, Turks are more skeptical of this than they have been
over the past five years. This may reflect anti-Western sentiment more
than a diminished appetite for democracy, which Turks broadly embrace.
In contrast, however, the weakest endorsement of democracy comes not
from the Muslim world, but from Russia, where by a greater than
two-to-one margin people say a strong leader, rather than democracy, can
best solve the country's problems.
Other questions suggest that the struggle to meet basic human needs can
supersede support for democracy. For example, most publics in both the
developed and developing world say being free from hunger and poverty is
more important to them than either free speech or religious freedom. The
conflict between basic rights and basic needs is particularly apparent
in the developing world, home to many of the newest and most fragile
democracies. When asked to choose between a strong economy and a good
democracy, majorities in 14 of 36 developing countries choose
prosperity, while majorities in 15 select a good democracy.
Other findings from this wide-ranging survey include:
*Attitudes toward government*
* Concerns about excessive government control have increased in much
of Western and Eastern Europe, with particularly large increases
in Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Overall, worries about
government intrusion into daily life are higher in Western Europe
than in the former Eastern bloc.
* Majorities in every country surveyed say that the government
should take care of the very poor who cannot take care of
themselves. Support for a social safety net is widespread across
all regions, although slightly weaker in Japan, Jordan and Egypt.
* Few publics favor economic growth at the expense of the
environment. In 46 of 47 countries surveyed, majorities say the
environment should be given priority, even if this means lower
growth and fewer jobs.
*American exceptionalism*
* Americans tend to be more religious than the publics of other
affluent nations. Americans also are more likely to say that
individuals are in control of their lives, another indication of
what some scholars describe as "American exceptionalism" in terms
of core attitudes and beliefs.
* Americans are somewhat more likely than the publics of most NATO
allies to support the use of force in the international arena.
Overwhelmingly, Americans think military force is sometimes
necessary in world affairs, while among European publics there is
greater division on this issue. Egyptians, Jordanians and Germans
are most likely to reject the view that military force is
sometimes necessary.
* More than half of Americans say their culture is superior to
others, a larger proportion than in most other Western publics.
But in Italy, nearly seven-in-ten say their way of life is better.
*Muslims and their beliefs*
* In most Muslim countries, at least one-in-three Muslims --
including more than half in Lebanon and Turkey -- sees a struggle
between Islamic fundamentalists and those who want to modernize
their countries.
* While most publics agree that religion and politics do not mix,
opinions are moving in opposite directions in two key Muslim
allies of the United States. Support for strict separation between
religion and government is growing in Pakistan, while in Turkey
support for such separation has declined significantly in the past
five years.
* Large majorities in every Latin American, Eastern European and
African country surveyed say that women should be able to choose
their own husbands. But sizable minorities in several
predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia -- and
a majority in Pakistan -- say that a woman's family should choose
her husband.
*Immigration*
* North Americans generally are more welcoming to immigrants than
are Western Europeans. Among Western European publics, Swedes are
the most likely to say immigration from North Africa and the
Middle East, as well as from Eastern Europe, is a good thing for
their country, while Italians and Germans express the most
negative views.
* Sizable minorities in 11 of the 36 developing countries surveyed
say they regularly receive money from relatives living in another
country. In Lebanon and Bangladesh, nearly half of respondents say
they receive help from family members living abroad.
*Media and technology*
* People around the world continue to turn to television for news
about international and national issues. The only exceptions are
several African nations where radio is still the primary source of
information. Newspapers continue to lose readers and trail far
behind television as a news source.
* Online news sources are steadily gaining in popularity in the West
and parts of Asia but draw only a tiny audience in Africa or Latin
America.
* Computer ownership has steadily risen in the past five years,
particularly in Eastern Europe. At the same time, the gap in
technology use between the world's advanced countries and less
developed nations has increased significantly.
* Cell phone ownership is increasing at a dramatic pace in both the
developed and developing worlds. Since 2002, cell phone ownership
has grown by 20 percentage points or more in 24 of the 35
countries where trend data is available.
Roadmap to the Report
The first chapter examines global publics' views of global change,
including opinions about international trade, multinational corporations
and free markets. The second chapter focuses on views of immigration,
including views about key immigrant groups in North America and Western
Europe. Chapter 3 examines public attitudes about religion and morality,
as well as Muslim publics' views about modernizers and fundamentalists
in the Muslim world. Chapter 4 looks at values and American
exceptionalism and includes questions about individualism, cultural
superiority and the use of military force. Chapter 5 includes questions
on gender roles in education and political leadership, and examines
Muslim publics' attitudes about wearing the veil and about men and women
working together in the same workplace. Chapter 6 looks at views about
key principles of democracy, especially in the developing world. Chapter
7 focuses on where the world gets its news. Chapter 8 looks at the use
of new technology, including the internet and cell phones, around the world.
*Notes*
^1 Religiosity is measured using a three-item index ranging from 0-3,
with "3" representing the most religious position. Respondents were
given a "1" if they believe faith in God is necessary for morality; a
"1" if they say religion is very important in their lives; and a "1" if
they pray at least once a day.
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