摘要：This article examines the development ofxenophobia in the Netherlands and describes the social profile of the xenophobian people in recent years. TheNetherlands, known as a country of tolerance forimmigrants, started reacting against increasing numberof immigrants since the 1960’s. As a result, the issue ofimmigrants has currently become one of the mostimportant and controversial political problems in thecountry. An analysis of data collected from the Researchof Cultural Changes in the Netherlands shows that theissue of negative attitudes against immigrants is not amarginal phenomenon and that, on the contrary, itreflects discontent of large social segments in thecountry. Xenophobia arises from a social competitionbetween native and foreign social groups coming fromdifferent social, economic and cultural backgrounds. Thearticle concludes that the Netherlands has to managethis social and cultural competition with reasonableintegration policies if she wishes to get her image of “landof tolerance” back to her hands again.
