Understanding evaluations of foreigners in modern South Africa: the relationship between subjective wellbeing and xenophobia

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dc.date.accessioned 2022-09-30T13:02:52Z
dc.date.available 2022-09-30T13:02:52Z
dc.date.issued 2017-01-11 en
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/10490
dc.description.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. en
dc.format.medium Print en
dc.subject QUALITY OF LIFE en
dc.subject XENOPHOBIA en
dc.subject REFUGEES WELL-BEING en
dc.title Understanding evaluations of foreigners in modern South Africa: the relationship between subjective wellbeing and xenophobia en
dc.type Journal Article en
dc.ProjectNumber TAAMAA en
dc.Volume 19(2) en
dc.BudgetYear 2016/17 en
dc.ResearchGroup Service Delivery, Democracy and Governance en
dc.SourceTitle Journal of Happiness Studies en
dc.ArchiveNumber 9516 en
dc.PageNumber 545-566 en
dc.outputnumber 8372 en
dc.bibliographictitle Gordon, S.L. (2018) Understanding evaluations of foreigners in modern South Africa: the relationship between subjective wellbeing and xenophobia. Journal of Happiness Studies. 19(2):545-566. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/10490 en
dc.publicationyear 2018 en
dc.contributor.author1 Gordon, S.L. en


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