Racism and intolerance in Eastern Australia : a geographic perspective

Racism has become a fact of life in Australia over the past decade or so, yet there are relatively few studies of its nature or extent, and still fewer on its geography. Using a social constructivist approach, this study draws on a survey of 5056 respondents to investigate attitudes to racism and cultural diversity in New South Wales and Queensland, and of perceptions of out-groups as instances of ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“strangers in our midstââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢. On racism, results show the presence of a continuum of attitudes ranging from generally tolerant to generally intolerant, a presence which cuts across compositional (social or aspatial) characteristics to emphasise the existence of a distinctive geography, an everywhere different nature to racist and non-racist attitudes which transcends urbanââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“rural and traditional social layers. On the other hand, perceptions of out-groups are not uniformly correlated with presence or absence of cultural diversity. In many cases, the ability to make judgements about significant ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“othersââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ or out-groups has been shown to relate more to abstract notions of self and national identity, reproduced in public by mainstream news media and political leaders. In particular, it may reflect an Anglo (or Anglo-Celtic) view on nationalism, which is a hallmark of the ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“new racismââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢: an assimilationist or ethnocultural view of Australian society which is different from the ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“civic nationââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ ideal envisaged by multiculturalism. That the geography of attitudes and perceptions people have towards and about different cultural groups is so ââ"šÂ¬Ã‹Å“everywhere differentââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢ has important implications for attempts to address and redress issues of intolerance in Australia.