Xenophobia corresponds to a phobia or fear, an individual who has an aversion to everything that is new (object or person). In the social sense, xenophobia is widely used to designate forms of prejudice (racial, group, national or cultural minorities). The use of this term is controversial.
Currently, xenophobia occurs mainly in developed countries, since natives do not want to compete for a job with an immigrant. It is common for xenophobia to be related to the prejudice of people from other countries (especially underdeveloped ones), races, cultures, customs and so on. Xenophobia can also manifest itself in another way, when an individual avoids contact with people with different characteristics, such as those presented.
Xenophobia can arise from inaccurate and generalized information about a particular social or racial group. In this sense, aversion does not occur because of fear, but because of lack of information. Clear cases of this kind of prejudice occur when, for example, they say that Asians are dirty, all Muslims are terrorists, black people do not think, and so on. In addition to prejudices arising from different types of religions, against homosexuals, political ideals, which are purely intolerance without any just cause.
In Europe there are several cases of xenophobes who attack immigrants and even set their homes on fire. Most developed countries fear that the massive arrival of immigrants could lead to the emergence of social problems (unemployment, crime, poor quality of life, etc.), as a result, there are even xenophobic parties that fight against the entry of immigrants. In short, the xenophobia highlighted here aims to demonstrate the prejudice of origin, that is, people from rich countries who have an aversion to people from poor countries or from development.
By Eduardo de Freitas
Graduated in Geography
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/xenofobia-social.htm