Face Up to Racism: 2015-16 National Survey

This project measured the extent and variation of racist attitudes and experiences in Australia. It examined Australians’ attitudes to cultural diversity, discomfort/intolerance of specific groups, ideology of nation, perceptions of Anglo-Celtic cultural privilege, and belief in racialism, racial separatism and racial hierarchy. The project also explored targets experiences of racism and the circumstances in which these events occur. We examined the different forms racism takes, the various spheres of life in which incidents occur, the frequency of incidents, responses to incidents (undertaken by both bystanders and targets) and the impact of those experiences on victims.

The survey results were used to inform the documentary Is Australia Racist? which premiered on Sunday, 26^th February 2017. The documentary was one of a number of programs featured on SBS, from 26^th February to 5^th March 2017 as part of Face Up To Racism week – a week during which SBS sought to encourage greater understanding, inspire change and support an inclusive. The documentary, compared by Ray Martin, broadly investigated the question Is Australia Racist? by testing our survey findings through recorded field experiments. A number of hidden camera social experiments were conducted, accompanied by interviews with both victims and perpetrators of racism. Throughout the documentary, experts such as Professors Kevin Dunn, Yin Paradies and Andrew Jakubowicz provided expert opinions on the unfolding events, explaining reasons why bystanders either responded or refrained from responding to specific incidents of racism.

Key Findings

The vast majority of respondents (80.4%) believed it is a good thing for a society to be made up of different cultures.

A large proportion of respondents (77%) appreciated the need to challenge racism and for there to be anti-racism initiatives. Seventy-six per cent of respondents also expressed a commitment to personal action.

Despite these findings high levels of antipathy were found towards various groups of Australians.

• 27.6 per cent of respondents indicated they would be 'extremely' or 'very concerned' if a relative were to marry a Muslim. In total, 63 per cent of respondents expressed some degree (ranging from slightly-extremely) of intolerance/discomfort with Muslim Australians.
• 51.4 per cent expressed anti-Middle Eastern sentiment.
• 43.9 per cent of respondents expressed anti-African sentiment.
• Most Australians recognised that racism exists within Australia (79.3%).

Experiences of racism amongst the respondents were quite high:

• 34.8 per cent of participants had experienced racism on public transport or in the street.

• 32.8 per cent of participants had experienced racism in the workplace.

• 32.8 per cent of participants had experienced within an educational institution.

  

Publications

• CRP 2015 - 16 Survey Report
• Technical Manual (PDF, 379.42 KB)
• Is Australia Racist? Media Release (PDF, 459.48 KB)
• WSU Media Release

Project Team

• Prof Kevin Dunn (Western Sydney University)
• Katie Blair (Western Sydney University)
• Dr Oishee Alam (Western Sydney University)
• Dr Alanna Kamp (Western Sydney University)
• Rosalie Atie (Western Sydney University)

Project Partners and Funding

The study was commissioned by the television network SBS.