Abstract

Opinion polls research on feelings of hostility towards minorities open up deep normative and deontological questions. In the first part of the paper we present the results of a European comparison on feelings of hostility, looking at changes in time and space, to avoid reification and determinism. Then we discuss what kind of social groups (for social stratification, regional area, urban dimension, political attitudes) present anti-gypsy beliefs, and which type of policies are mostly envisaged. In the third part, comments of the Italian Roma on these data are resumed. In the last part, we discuss from a pragmatic point of view about the responsibility of opinion polls research, on effects of logical blindness and on the relevance of a relational approach to write about stereotypes.