The Effect of Awareness of Immigration Policies on Attitudes Toward Immigrants And Hate Speech

Migration and migration policies are at the center of many social and political debates. Societies differ in their approaches to migration and immigrants. Depending on these differences, policies are developed by states. However, migration policies proposed by states should be fully understood by the citizens of those countries. Because incomplete or incorrect information about policies impacts attitudes toward immigrants. Positive or negative attitudes toward immigrants are in a relationship with a society’s level of knowledge about migration policies. This study investigates how a lack of knowledge about migration policies affects attitudes toward immigrants. In this study, 401 people were surveyed, and approval was obtained from Mardin Artuklu University ethics committee. As a result of our research, hypotheses H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6, which test the relationship between the level of knowledge and awareness of migration policies and attitudes toward immigrants and foreigners, are accepted. The results of the analyses show that there is a significant relationship between the level of awareness of migration policies and perception of immigrants and negative attitudes toward foreigners.