Violence, displacement, contact, and attitudes toward hosting refugees

Abstract

How do individuals’ personal experiences with various aspects of political violence affect their attitudes toward hosting conflict refugees? More specifically, how do their personal exposure to violence, their own personal experience of being displaced, and their recent contact with refugees influence these attitudes? To explore answers to these questions, we draw upon a recent survey of 2,400 Lebanese residents where we identify individuals who experienced violence during the Lebanese civil war (1975–90), those forced to flee their homes during that conflict, and those who enjoy recent contact with Syrian immigrant and/or displaced populations. We examine whether these distinct experiences affect respondents’ regard for members of the Syrian refugee population. Results demonstrate that historical exposure to violence and experience of displacement have no discernible impact on individual attitudes toward hosting refugees. We find much stronger evidence that attitudes are associated with whether individual respondents have had contact with Syrians in Lebanon; those with such interactions are significantly more likely to support hosting refugees, to consider hiring a refugee, or to allow one of their children to marry a refugee. Our findings suggest exposure to violence by itself does not correlate to positive sentiments toward refugees, especially over time. Further, finding ways to create positive contact between refugees and native populations may be associated with improving attitudes and relations between the two populations.

Does Aid Reduce Anti-refugee Violence? Evidence from Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

“…16 The contact with refugees on these occasions may also have increased hosts' acceptance. Ghosn, Braithwaite, and Chu (2019), for example, find that Lebanese who have had contact with Syrians are significantly more likely to support hosting refugees. 17 Finally, Figure 3 suggests that aid may have allowed refugees to avoid contact with potential aggressors by substituting public with private transport.…”

“…9 Although survey data from Lebanese community members could have provided numerous important insights, funding constraints prevented us from collecting such data. Recent work explores the Lebanese community's perceptions of refugees, e.g., Ghosn, Braithwaite, and Chu (2019)…”

“…n recent years, high levels of refugee migration have led to social tensions, political conflict, and right-wing political backlash (Alrababa'h et al 2019;Bansak, Hainmueller, and Hangartner 2016;Braithwaite et al 2019;Ghosn, Braithwaite, and Chu 2019;Hangartner et al 2019;Marbach and Ropers 2018). We explore international humanitarian aid as a potential mechanism by which these tensions can be reduced, studying how aid affects violence targeting refugees.…”

The Relationship Between Multicultural Competencies and Intercultural Contact: Multicultural Personality and Cultural Intelligence

“…We believe that these competencies are relevant to the quality of social interactions between people of different cultures. Effective social interaction by the host country contributes to the good integration of foreigners, to social peace, to the well-being and satisfaction of individuals (e.g., Ghosn, Braithwaite, & Chu, 2019). On the other hand, in organizational terms our results can contribute not only to define employee selection tools but also to outline strategies that promote contact with other cultures, allowing for the development of a better individual, team or organizational performance in multicultural environments.…”

“…Existing prejudice about certain national categories (e.g., Chinese, Russian, Swedish, Brazilian) and language difficulties can cause negative contact experiences and therefore negatively affect cultural intelligence and multicultural personality. Further investigations may deepen the differences in intercultural contact regarding immigrant type (e.g., illegal immigrants vs asylum seekers) (e.g., Ghosn et al, 2019). This study could be extended to populations of 12 ISSN 1807-0310 immigrants and emigrants, which, contrary to expatriates, have no organizational support, preparation, or intercultural training.…”