Politicized vs. benevolent motivations of refugee helpers in Hungary in the context of the war in Ukraine

Anna Kende, Laura Faragó, Nóra Anna Lantos

ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

Solidarity among people is the bedrock of human existence, as it represents a universal social norm that guides everyday behaviour through deeply entrenched biological motivations and cultural values. However, solidarity is often only expressed toward ingroup members as people have a limited capacity to empathize with others. Therefore, unlike ingroup solidarity, intergroup solidarity is conditional. In this study, we examined the connection between the motivations of helpers and the conditions of helping in the first months of the refugee crisis following the war in Ukraine using a preregistered online survey in Hungary (N=2261). Our main research question was whether helpers in the refugee crisis in Hungary can be distinguished based on their politicized (i.e., choosing to help to express a political stance against Russia’s aggression) and benevolent motivations (choosing to help for esteem-enhancement), and whether this distinction is connected to defining the conditions of helping. Specifically, we expected and found that helpers with more politicized motivational profiles found less importance in stereotypicality of the refugee (i.e., refugees should be hapless, grateful and culturally similar) for helping, whereas helpers with benevolent profiles found somewhat more importance in refugee stereotypicality. Using latent profile analysis, we identified three classes of helpers based on differences in politicized motivations and esteem-enhancement, and identified differences between the most and least politicized groups. Our research highlights an important risk in maintaining support for refugees as many refugees do not or will not fit the stereotypical expectations of host populations.