Abstract

This study seeks to identify if internalized negative racial and ethnic stereotypes impact U.S. public support for Syrian refugee relocation. Related literature was reviewed to develop the two hypotheses for this study: the more one has internalized negative racial and ethnic stereotypes of refugees, the less supportive they will be towards refugee relocation, and that internalized stereotypes will be more influential than other economic or ideological factors. These hypotheses were tested through a survey using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform, and then analyzed with ordered logit regression. The results of this study indicated that positive traits associated with Syrian refugees led to higher support for relocation, while negative traits resulted in decreased support. These results prove the first hypothesis of this study to be true; however, the second hypothesis was not proven due to limited statistical analysis. Influenced by the findings of this study, policy recommendations and potential implications to reduce the use of stereotypes in public discourse on refugees were made.

Advisor

Leiby, Michele

Department

Global and International Studies

Publication Date

2017

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2017 Sarah C. Strum