How Perceptions of Social Integration Shape Attitudes Toward Immigrant Support: The Interplay of Perceived Inequality and Generation

Background/Purpose: South Korea has undergone rapid demographic transformation since the 2000s, prompting landmark legislation including the Immigration Act (2007) and the Multicultural Families Support Act (2008). Despite these policy developments, public opposition to immigrant welfare support has continued to rise. Prior studies have identified perceptions of social integration as an important predictor of such attitudes; but have overlooked how perceived inequality toward immigrants interacts with it and how this relationship may vary among different generations. This study identifies latent profiles of perceptions of social integration and analyzes their interaction with perceived inequality toward immigrants in shaping attitudes toward immigrant support across generations.

Methods: Data were drawn from the third wave of the Survey on Inequality and Fairness Perceptions in South Korea (2023; N = 1,528, aged 20-69). Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was conducted using eleven Likert-type indicators assessing personal equality, equity, trust, and social mobility perceptions. Regression analyses then examined how the identified profiles related to attitudes toward immigrant support—measured using three items capturing policy fairness, support for increased benefits, and willingness to pay additional taxes—and whether this relationship was moderated by perceived inequality toward immigrants, defined as perceived inequality between native Koreans and immigrant groups (1 = very unequal to 5 = very equal). Moderation analyses were conducted separately for young adults (20-30s), middle-aged adults (40-50s), and older adults (60s and above). Covariates included gender, age, residential area, educational attainment, employment status, household income, marital status, presence of children, and political orientation.

Results: Three latent profiles—low, moderate, and high social integration—were identified. Overall, higher perceptions of social integration were associated with more favorable attitudes toward immigrant support. The interaction term (profile × perceived inequality toward immigrants) was significant among young and older adults. Among young adults, those in the high integration profile showed increasingly favorable attitudes as perceived inequality toward immigrants increased—that is, even as immigrants were perceived as equal to native Koreans, support attitudes continued to rise. By contrast, those in the low and moderate profiles exhibited declining support attitudes, meaning that perceiving immigrants as more equal was associated with lower willingness to support them. Among older adults, the high integration profile showed relatively stable attitudes toward immigrant support regardless of perceived inequality levels.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the effects of perceptions of social integration and perceived inequality toward immigrants on attitudes toward immigrant support vary across generations. Among young adults, perceived inequality toward immigrants amplified attitudinal differences across profiles, suggesting that a well-integrated social worldview may cultivate normative commitments to immigrant inclusion that supersede utilitarian equality calculations. Among older adults, those in the high integration profile showed relatively stable support attitudes regardless of perceived inequality levels, indicating that integration norms may similarly buffer against inequality-driven reductions in support, while those in the low and moderate profiles showed a substantial decline. These findings suggest that promoting inclusive attitudes toward immigrants requires attention to how perceptions of social integration and perceived inequality toward immigrants interact differently depending on life-stage contexts.