Understanding evaluations of foreigners in modern South Africa: the relationship between subjective wellbeing and xenophobia
SOURCE: Journal of Happiness Studies
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2016
TITLE AUTHOR(S): S.L.Gordon
KEYWORDS: QUALITY OF LIFE, REFUGEES WELL-BEING, XENOPHOBIA
DEPARTMENT: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 9516
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/10490
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/10490
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2016
TITLE AUTHOR(S): S.L.Gordon
KEYWORDS: QUALITY OF LIFE, REFUGEES WELL-BEING, XENOPHOBIA
DEPARTMENT: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 9516
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/10490
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/10490
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
Recent and recurrent violence against immigrants in South Africa highlight the prevalence of xenophobia in the country. Is there a relationship between attitudes towards immigrant sentiment and life satisfaction at the individual level in that nation? Life satisfaction could be a proxy for anxiety, social alienation or insecurity which may be driving xenophobic sentiment. Using data from the 2013 South African Social Attitudes Survey, this paper examines the relationship between attitudes towards immigrants and life satisfaction (measured using the Personal Wellbeing Index). The study focuses exclusively on the attitudes of the country's Black African majority. Bivariate and multivariate analysis found that life satisfaction did not have a strong relationship with pro-immigrant sentiments. Objective measures of socio-economic status (such as educational attainment) did not have a significant relationship with attitudes towards immigrants. Although improving subjective wellbeing among Black Africans is a worthwhile policy goal in of itself, the findings of this study suggest that addressing xenophobia among this group will require focus on other areas. Intergroup contact, interracial attitudes and perceptions about the consequences of immigration were found to be stronger predictors of pro-immigrant sentiment than life satisfaction. There was some evidence of 'outsider solidarity in the study' isiTsonga speakers and members of the ethnolinguistic Black African minority were more pro-immigrant in sentiment than other groups. The implications of this finding on the study of pro-immigration attitudes are discussed in the conclusion.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Learning for living: towards a new vision for post-school learning in South Africa
- Manufacturing materials
- Tourism
- Desktop study in support of the millennium development goals
- Quality of life, poverty and environment
- An investigation of quality of life of the elderly in South Africa, with specific reference to Mpumalanga province
- Migration, xenophobia and South African history textbooks
- Yesterday and today, but what of tomorrow?
- Horrible image is now a scandalous part of our national 'family album'
- Citizenship, violence and xenophobia in South Africa: perceptions from South African communities
- Youth and well-being: a South African case study
- Health-related quality of life in a sample of HIV-infected South Africans
- Xenophobia and school history textbooks
- Violence and xenophobia in South Africa: developing consensus, moving to action
- Comment: 'Fortress SA'?: a response to John Sharp
- Citizenship, violence and xenophobia in South Africa: perceptions from South African communities
- How do we stop the violence from ever happening again?
- Violence, xenophobia and housing: policy issues
- Migration, citizenship and South African history textbooks
- Health-related quality of life in a sample of HIV-infected South Africans