COVID-19 among Undocumented Immigrant Workers in the Meatpacking Industry

Presenter

Ruth Tony-Alabi

Campus

UMass Amherst

Sponsor

Scott Blinder, Department of Political Science, UMass Amherst

Schedule

Session 3, 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A28, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 2 (A21-A40) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

In the last decade, intra-African migration, particularly to South Africa, has risen. Increases in immigration have come with spikes in xenophobic violence. Research on the Global North, and to a more limited extent, in the Middle East, suggests that providing locals with positive information about immigrants may mitigate anti-immigrant attitudes. This paper aimed to discover whether such treatments will work in the South African context. Specifically, it investigated whether providing positive information about immigrants’ contributions to the labor market and economy, and propensity for socio-linguistical integration into the local culture, can alter immigration attitudes among South African natives. Secondary questions answered included whether Afrophobia, an aversion to African immigrants in particular, is distinct from general anti-migrant sentiment or simply one of its correlates and whether it affects South Africans’ responses to positive information about African immigrants. Overall, the results reflect that factual information addressing economic or cultural threat can cause positive shifts in South African immigration attitudes. Afrophobia also appears correlated with anti-immigrant sentiment, as Afrophobic individuals are more opposed to immigration than non-Afrophobic South Africans and more responsive to informational treatments. These results may provide useful information for both scholars and activists about the type of intervention that can reduce xenophobic attitudes in South Africa. Moreover, the study’s contributions transcend its experimental effects, as it is the first survey experiment of its kind in the South African context and one of few similar studies that highlight the need for more experimental research of this kind in the Global South.

Keywords

immigration attitudes, South Africa, survey experiment

Research Area

Political Science and Government

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