04 November 2011

Focus on Public Opinion

Further to this earlier post: The Migration Observatory published an interesting report recently entitled "Thinking Behind the Numbers: Understanding Public Opinion on Immigration in Britain." One of the findings regarding peoples' perceptions of migrants is:

When thinking about immigrants, respondents were most likely to think of asylum seekers (62%) and least likely to think of students (29%). In current official (ONS) statistics, students represent the largest group of immigrants coming to the UK (37% of 2009 immigrant arrivals) while asylum seekers are the smallest group (4% in 2009).

For comments on this report, check out this post and this post on the COMPAS Blog.

Other related thoughts and studies:

Asylum and the Media in the 2000s (Refugee Action, Oct. 2011) [text]

"'It Would be Okay If They Came through the Proper Channels': Community Perceptions and Attitudes toward Asylum Seekers in Australia," Journal of Refugee Studies, Advance Access, 23 Oct. 2011 [abstract]

Living Together: Combining Diversity and Freedom in 21st Century Europe (Group of Eminent Persons, May 2011) [access]

Population, Immigration and Asylum Seekers: Patterns in Australian Public Opinion (Pre-Election Policy Unit of the Parliamentary Library, May 2011) [text]

"Migrant Women and Discrimination in Australia: A Tiered Narrative Study," Citizenship and Globalisation Research Papers, vol. 2, no. 2 (Aug. 2011) [text]

"Public Opinion and Asylum Policy," Chapter 7 in Seeking Asylum: Trends and Policies in the OECD, pp. 55-66 (Centre for Economic Policy Research, 2011) [text]

Refugees in Australia (Yarra Institute for Religion & Social Policy, Oct. 2011) [text]

'We Are All Migrants' – Time to Change Inflammatory Talk on Migration, Statement to the 66th session of the General Assembly (Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Oct. 2011) [access]

Example of an effort to address diversity and equity issues:

Multiculturalism: Perspectives from Australia, Canada & China, Melbourne, 21-22 November 2011 [info]
- This conference seeks to "celebrate innovation in this field and to offer ideas for the future."

Example of an effort to promote accuracy in the media:

Was a failed asylum seeker allowed to stay in the UK because he goes to the gym? (fullfact.org, Oct. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

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