Mapping Social Cohesion – Awareness of Racism

Awareness of racism is rising

In 2021 and 2022, we asked people ‘in your opinion, how big of a problem is racism in Australia?’. In 2022, 14 per cent of people believe racism is a very big problem and 47 per cent believe it is a fairly big problem, 37 per cent believe it is not a very big problem and just 2 per cent believe it is not a problem at all. As Figure 30 shows, these proportions are very similar to what they were in 2021.

But belief that racism is a problem is substantially more widespread than it was in 2020. In the two surveys we conducted in 2020, we asked people ‘in your opinion, how big of a problem is racism in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic?’. The proportion of people who believed racism was a very big or fairly big problem was 40 per cent in July 2020 and November 2020 when asked in this way. In 2021 (and when we dropped the reference to COVID-19), this proportion increased to 60 per cent and remains at this level in 2022.

Growth since 2020 in the belief that racism is a problem is probably a reflection of growing public awareness of the issue. As described in this chapter, discrimination on the basis of skin colour, ethnic group, or religion has not shown the same increase. The extent of prejudiced attitudes has, if anything, declined since 2020.

As Figure 26 shows, the belief that racism is a very big or fairly big problem has become more common across demographic and socio-economic groups, including younger and older people, and people from higher and lower socio-economic groups.

➤ Strikingly, the largest increase has been among people born in Australia. In July 2020, 36 per cent of the Australian-born population thought that racism was a very big or fairly big problem, rising to 61 per cent in 2022. The corresponding figures for people born overseas and who speak a language other than English was 52 per cent in July 2020 and 58 per cent in 2022. There is now little difference between the proportions of Australian-born and overseas-born populations who think that racism is a problem.

This signifies a greater awareness of racism, particularly among Australian-born people. It does not necessarily suggest that the experience of racism is becoming more common, but it does suggest there may be widespread support for public and community measures to address the problem.

Discrimination, prejudice, and social cohesion

Discrimination and prejudice are strongly related to social cohesion. Table 27 shows that people who reported experiencing discrimination in the past 12 months based on their skin colour, ethnic group, or religion have social cohesion scores that are significantly lower than the national average on belonging (–2.7 points), worth (–3.0 points), social inclusion and justice (–1.8 points), and acceptance and rejection (–2.3 points) measures.

People who have a negative perception of one or more religions, or are one of the six non-European or non- US born groups, also have a significantly lower sense of belonging, worth, and social inclusion and justice – although the differences are smaller.

So tackling the drivers of prejudice, discrimination, and racism may have positive benefits for social cohesion.

The finding that people who have experienced discrimination have higher levels of participation and lower levels of acceptance is striking.

➤ People who have experienced discrimination are significantly more likely to have engaged in political activities in the last three years, more likely to participate in social, community support, and/or civic groups, and more likely to provide unpaid help.

➤ People who have experienced discrimination are significantly less likely to agree that ‘accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger’, a finding that perhaps reflects the impact of the personal experience of attitudes to diversity in Australia.

The survey indicates Australians continue to strongly support ethnic diversity and multiculturalism, in line with a long-term positive trend.