Asylum seekers and resettled refugees in Australia: Predicting social policy attitude from prejudice versus emotion
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Hartley, Lisa K.
Pedersen, Anne
Abstract / Description
While most of the world's refugees reside in developing countries, their arrival to western countries is highly politicised, giving rise to questions about the types of entitlements and rights that should, or should not, be granted. In this study, using a mixed-methods community questionnaire (N = 185), we examined attitudes towards social policies aimed at providing assistance to two categories of new arrivals to Australia: resettled refugees (who arrive via its official refugee resettlement program) and asylum seekers (who arrive via boat and then seek refugee status). Social policy attitude was examined as a consequence of feelings of anger, fear, and threat, as well as levels of prejudice. Participants felt significantly higher levels of anger, fear, threat, and prejudice towards asylum seekers compared to resettled refugees. For both resettled refugees and asylum seekers, prejudice was an independent predictor of more restrictive social policy attitudes. For resettled refugees, fear and perceived threat were independent predictors for more restrictive social policy whereas for asylum seekers anger was an independent predictor of restrictive social policy. The qualitative data reinforced the quantitative findings and extended understanding on the appraisals that underpin negative attitudes and emotional responses. Practical implications relating to challenging community attitudes are discussed.
Keyword(s)
social policy attitudes prejudice emotions refugees asylum seekersPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2015-07-10
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
3
Issue
1
Page numbers
179–197
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Hartley, L. K., & Pedersen, A. (2015). Asylum seekers and resettled refugees in Australia: Predicting social policy attitude from prejudice versus emotion. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 179–197. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.476
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Hartley, Lisa K.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Pedersen, Anne
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:44:41Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:44:41Z
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Date of first publication2015-07-10
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Abstract / DescriptionWhile most of the world's refugees reside in developing countries, their arrival to western countries is highly politicised, giving rise to questions about the types of entitlements and rights that should, or should not, be granted. In this study, using a mixed-methods community questionnaire (N = 185), we examined attitudes towards social policies aimed at providing assistance to two categories of new arrivals to Australia: resettled refugees (who arrive via its official refugee resettlement program) and asylum seekers (who arrive via boat and then seek refugee status). Social policy attitude was examined as a consequence of feelings of anger, fear, and threat, as well as levels of prejudice. Participants felt significantly higher levels of anger, fear, threat, and prejudice towards asylum seekers compared to resettled refugees. For both resettled refugees and asylum seekers, prejudice was an independent predictor of more restrictive social policy attitudes. For resettled refugees, fear and perceived threat were independent predictors for more restrictive social policy whereas for asylum seekers anger was an independent predictor of restrictive social policy. The qualitative data reinforced the quantitative findings and extended understanding on the appraisals that underpin negative attitudes and emotional responses. Practical implications relating to challenging community attitudes are discussed.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationHartley, L. K., & Pedersen, A. (2015). Asylum seekers and resettled refugees in Australia: Predicting social policy attitude from prejudice versus emotion. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 3(1), 179–197. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.476en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1371
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1695
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v3i1.476
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Keyword(s)social policy attitudesen_US
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Keyword(s)prejudiceen_US
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Keyword(s)emotionsen_US
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Keyword(s)refugeesen_US
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Keyword(s)asylum seekersen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleAsylum seekers and resettled refugees in Australia: Predicting social policy attitude from prejudice versus emotionen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers179–197
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Volume3
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record