Monitoring community attitudes during refugee settlement in Armidale, NSW

Armidale, NSW, has recently been designated a settlement region for refugees, with at least 300 refugees expected to arrive during 2018.  Part of the rationale is that Armidale is a “welcoming community”. However, attitudes are not uniformly positive, and the influx of refugees could provoke backlash effects in some sections of the community, arousing angst and negativity to the refugees.  It is vital to monitor community responses to the refugees and address issues as they arise.

Research in prejudice confirms the risk of backlash effects.  Attitudes are influenced by the experiences a person and their extended circle has with another group. Positive experiences have an effect, but negative experiences have about eight times stronger impact (Barlow et al., 2012).  Thus, small unfortunate events such as playground conflict can have significant ripple effects. While we cannot prevent these things from happening, we can monitor and respond appropriately if attitudes become negative and need redressing.

We will conduct four telephone surveys at regular intervals during the first year of the settlement period to track community responses to the refugees.  Monitoring community responses will act as an early warning system, alerting us to the development of any negative responses to the refugees and enabling stakeholders (e.g., Armidale Regional Council; Settlement Services International) to respond to issues as they arise positively.  Each survey will recruit a sample of 250 residents and will be representative of the Armidale community regarding age, gender, and level of education.  In this way, we will gain an objective understanding of community attitudes, rather than being swayed by the opinions of “loud voices”.

While all hope the community will embrace the refugees, there is a risk that attitudes could become negative, setting up long-term conflict and unhappiness in the town.  Community monitoring is a good way to avoid this possibility and to maintain Armidale ’s positive vibe as a welcoming community.  The overarching goal of this project is to promote social cohesion and harmony for the benefit of all.

References

Barlow, F. K., et al. (2012). “The contact caveat: Negative contact predicts increased prejudice more than positive contact predicts reduced prejudice.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38(12): 1629-1643.