Before and after October 7: Changes in Italian Undergraduates’ Attitudes towards Jews and Muslims
Author(s)
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Publication Date
Abstract
On October 7, 2023, a Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 250 others. The almost immediate spread of news and images of the attack produced heavy emotional reactions in public opinion in many countries. The article analyzes data from a representative survey on the attitudes toward Jews and Muslims of Italian undergraduates conducted between late September and late October 2023, encompassing both those dramatic events and the war that followed. Four main findings emerge. First, Italian students tend to organize attitudes towards Jews around three main dimensions, those toward Muslims around one. Second, attitudes towards the two groups vary according to cultural values of reference, commitment to study, and political orientation. Third, negative attitudes towards Muslims are more prevalent than those toward Jews, but this difference narrows between center-left and left-leaning students and, in some cases, reverses. Finally, the analysis shows that one of the dimensions organizing unfavourable attitudes towards Jews experienced very substantial growth on the days immediately following October 7, that is, the date of the Hamas terrorist attack inside Israeli territory.
Topics
Antisemitism: Attitude Surveys Attitudes to Jews Islamophobia October 7 2023 attacks + aftermath Main Topic: Antisemitism
Genre
Geographic Coverage
Original Language
Volume/Issue
44
Page Number / Article Number
937–964
DOI
Link
Link to article (paywalled), Before and after October 7: Changes in Italian Undergraduates’ Attitudes towards Jews and Muslims
Bibliographic Information
Before and after October 7: Changes in Italian Undergraduates’ Attitudes towards Jews and Muslims. 2024: 937–964. https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.1007/s12397-024-09615-0
