Racism Towards Immigrants

In 2010, 171,000 migrants came to Australia in search of a happy, conflict-free life. Although Australians are proud to say that our nation is multicultural and free of prejudice, the reality is that racism towards immigrants is still prevalent. In recent years Australia has been at the centre of several racial controversies including the Cronulla riots, the Indian student bashings and the relocation of asylum seekers to Malaysia. Such events as these are making potential immigrants unsure as to whether Australia is in fact the multicultural haven we preach it to be. In Victoria alone, the migration numbers have fallen by 37% with the violence against Indians considered a major factor. For several years prior to the Indian student attacks, Indians lead the way for migration in Victoria. In the years of 2009/10 when the violence against Indian students took place, the Indian migration numbers fell by 14%.
Other figures lead us to think that maybe racism is a lot more common in Australia than we first thought. A study undertaken in high schools describes that 80% of students of non-anglo ancestry have experienced racial vilification. Considering that one in every four of the Australian population was born in foreign countries, Australia has all the potential of becoming a great multicultural nation, but also holds the risk of becoming a land of violence and racism. This essay will be exploring the concepts of Social Identity Theory and Realistic Conflict Theory in relation to immigrants in Australia as well as ways to reduce the prejudice within these theories. Social Identity theory, formulated by Henri Taijfel in the 1970s, is centred on the basis that a person’s social identity is their knowledge of who they are by being a member of a social group or groups (Burke, Stets, 2000). Members of social groups share similar attributes and identify themselves in similar ways (Burke). When social group members share similar identities an ‘in-group’ is formed, thus