There is important variation in beliefs about immigration within the publics of immigrant‐receiving societies but empirical social research has largely overlooked it. The “imagined immigration” concept aims to bring these beliefs back in as an important component of public attitudes toward immigrants. It also offers a new perspective on the political conflict around immigration that persists despite the consensus on desired qualities of potential immigrants among citizens in industrial democracies.

中文翻译：

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谁是“移民”？美国和英国关于移民人口的观念和反移民态度

在移民接收社会的公众中，关于移民的观念存在重大差异，但经验主义社会研究在很大程度上忽略了这一点。“想象中的移民”概念旨在将这些信念重新纳入公众对移民态度的重要组成部分。它也为围绕移民的政治冲突提供了新的观点，尽管就工业民主国家的公民所期望的潜在移民素质达成了共识，但这种冲突仍在继续。