Public Attitudes
Public attitudes to asylum
Written by Dr Nissa Finney in July 2005 and updated in October 2005, with input from Gareth Morrell.
This guide provides an overview of knowledge, ideas and debates relating to public opinions on asylum and refugee issues. It provides an accessible introduction to three key topics: the importance of opinion, what people's opinions are, and what influences opinions.
The context section outlines why it is important to understand opinion on asylum and the implications opinion can have for policy and for people's lives. Legal and policy issues introduces strategies and initiatives relevant to this topic such as community cohesion strategies, integration strategies, the Race Relations Amendment Act and media regulation on asylum issues. The Key issues section overviews the information available on opinions and the pros and cons of various methods of finding out what people think about asylum and refugee issues. It then discusses what people think about asylum issues, what influences people's opinions, the role the media plays, the impact of negative and uninformed opinion and how to create more informed opinion. Examples of opinions and their impacts are then given in Statistics and Real Lives. Throughout this guide references and links are given to further information. The extensive Resources, Projects and initiatives and Contacts and links sections allow you to investigate further the aspects of this issue that you find most useful and interesting.
This Navigation Guide draws on an extensive literature review on 'Attitudes towards asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants' undertaken by ICAR and published by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) in 2005. See this literature review for a more in-depth review of theories and academic literature on attitudes towards asylum and for details of ten initiatives aiming to promote more informed opinion.
Finney, N. with Peach, E. (2004) Literature review: Attitudes towards asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants. London: Commission for Racial Equality.
Nissa Finney is an independent researcher who has previously worked with ICAR on projects for the Refugees Asylum and the Media Project (RAM) and the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). She has a PhD from the University of Wales and is currently a lecturer in geography at the University of Liverpool. Her doctoral thesis investigated local reactions to the dispersal policy for asylum seekers. Nissa currently lives in Manchester.
This guide was edited by Esme Peach, Information Officer at ICAR, and was updated by Gareth Morrell in October 2005. For more information about the navigation guide series, please contact ICAR .
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Last Updated: 25/02/09
