Hating and Mating: How Fears over Mate Competition Shape Violent Hate Crime against Refugees - A lecture by Rafaela Dancygier

As the number of refugees rises across the world, anti-refugee violence has become a pressing concern. What explains the incidence and support of such hate crime? Rafaela Dancygier, Associate Professor of Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, argues that fears among native men that refugees pose a threat in the competition for female partners is a critical but understudied factor driving hate crime. Employing a new dataset on the incidence of hate crime across Germany, Dancygier demonstrates that hate crime rises where men face disadvantages in local marriage markets. Next, she deploys an original four-wave panel survey to confirm that support for hate crime increases when men fear that the inflow of refugees makes it more difficult to find female partners. Moreover, concern about competing for romantic partners emerges as a more robust predictor than do variables capturing job competition or xenophobia. She concludes that a more complete understanding of hate crime must incorporate marriage markets and mate competition. Moderated by Cathie Jo Martin, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Study of Europe.