Present-day Hungary is a largely homogenous nation-state, one frequently described as a ‘low-contact’ society with limited exposure to minorities and outsiders. Nonetheless, Hungarian political discourse, particularly under Viktor Orbán’s leadership, has been marked by xenophobic and anti-minority rhetoric, one that draws sharp boundaries between the “nation” and various “others” that are perceived as threating the security and cultural integrity of Hungary. The migrant crisis has exacerbated such rhetoric, providing Orbán with an opportunity to fuse two distinct strains of prejudice. On the one hand, Orbán argues that the “invasion” of Muslims in Europe presents a civilizational and security threat. On the other, he links the influx of migrants to activism by the “global elite”, particularly George Sörös, thereby feeding antisemitic conspiracy theories. As such, his rhetoric simultaneously invokes Islamophobia and antisemitism. What is less clear is the extent to which this rhetoric resonates with the Hungarian public and the degree to which these two prejudices may reinforce one another in the Hungarian population. Islamophobia and antisemitism are both rooted in a perceived threat from societal out-groups. Yet, theoretically, they are informed by different psychological and political tendencies. The former is underpinned by social conservativism, hostility to immigration, and fear of an external (non-European) out-group. The latter, taps into conspiratorial thinking, economic resentment, and fear of an internal “other.” Hence, the aim of our paper is to investigate the cognitive and attitudinal factors underpinning these related, yet theoretically distinct, types of out-group hostility. Our research question is: In a low-contact society, do Islamophobia and antisemitism form distinct prejudicial predispositions, or are they informed by a uniform exclusionary worldview? To unpack this question, we use a novel survey conducted in 2024 in Hungary (n=1001). In the survey, respondents were asked the extent to which they agreed with the following two statements: 1) Hungarian life is increasingly threatened by Islamic extremism and 2) Hungarian life is increasingly dominated by Jewish interests. First, we employ factor analysis to interrogate whether Islamophobia and antisemitism are distinct psychological predispositions, or whether they are the result of general out-group hostility that transcends religious and internal/external “threat” lines. Second, we conduct regression analysis to probe whether the two prejudices are conditioned by unique psychological factors. Our preliminary results suggest that Islamophobia and antisemitism constitute a cohesive latent construct – a rejection of out-groups. That being said, some of their antecedents vary. Islamophobia is driven by the fear that immigrants increase crime, while antisemitism is informed by exclusive nationalism. Both are correlated with (economic) protectionism, and neither are specifically tied to support for Orbán.
