Attitudes towards refugees: The dark side of prejudice in Australia

Abstract

Australia has a significant intake of refugees each year. The majority enter through the humanitarian entrants program and a small percentage arrive seeking asylum. These processes have resulted in considerable debate, which has sometimes been associated with negative attitudes within the mainstream community. Research has indicated that realistic threat and symbolic threat are important components of the integrated threat theory for understanding opposition towards immigrants and refugees. Social desirability has also been indicated as potentially influential in the expression of negative attitudes. The current study examined the prevalence and correlates of negative attitudes towards refugees in an Australian sample. Participants consisted of 261 volunteer university students (119 men and 142 women). Participants were assessed on a prejudicial attitude measure, measures of symbolic and realistic threat and the Marlowe -Crowne Social Desirability Scale. The results indicated that more than half of the participants (59.8%) scored above the mid-point on prejudicial attitudes. Male participants reported less favourable attitudes towards refugees than female participants. Analysis revealed that both realistic and symbolic threats were influential in predicting prejudicial attitudes and, of these, realistic threat was the better predictor. The results are discussed in relation to the integrated threat theory of prejudice and in the context of addressing prejudice towards refugees in Australia.

Gratitude and Hospitality: Tamil Refugee Employment in London and the Conditional Nature of Integration

“…Within the refugee community this beneficent form of gratitude may be possible, strengthening bonds between refugees and the community. Yet refugees are largely excluded from this circle in the host society on account of negative public attitudes towards them (Schweitzer et al 2005). To develop similar connections between the host community and refugees requires recognition (Dikeç, 2002).…”

“There but for the grace of God go we”: Prejudice toward asylum seekers.

“…Indeed, the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees found, when ranking the top 15 industrialised countries receiving the most refugees, that Australia was number 15 with the least unauthorised arrivals (UNHCR, 2011). However, boats have increased in the last few years, public debate on this issue within Australia is intense and there is a widespread prejudice towards asylum seekers (Pedersen, Attwell & Heveli, 2005; McKay, Thomas & Kneebone, 2011;Schweitzer, Perkoulidis, Krome, Ludlow, & Ryan, 2005). This prejudice is fuelled by both political figures and by the media (Every & Augoustinos, 2007;Suhnan, Pedersen & Hartley, 2013) and has resulted in a regime of mandatory detention that has been criticised for its severity (Briskman, Latham & Goddard, 2008, as well as many national professional associations; e.g., Australian Psychological Society, 2011).…”

Attitudes toward Out‐groups and the perception of consensus: All feet do not wear one shoe

“…Many asylum seekers are from the Middle East; the two main nationalities of asylum seekers in 1998 to 2001 were Iraqis and Afghans (Refugee Council of Australia, 2002). With respect to attitudes toward asylum seekers, there is a great deal of research indicating that community levels of rejection are also unacceptably high (e.g., Klocker, 2004;Klocker & Dunn, 2003;Pedersen, Attwell & Heveli, 2005;Saxton, 2003;Schweitzer, Perkoulidis, Krome, Ludlow, & Ryan, 2005). Relevantly, attitudes toward Australian asylum seekers are related to hostile societal norms (Louis, Duck, Terry, Schuller, & Lalonde, 2007).…”