Migration Motives and Public Opinion

Session Submission Type: Created Panel

Session Description

This session provides answers to some pressing and timely empirical questions linking public opinion to the complex topic of migration motives. The papers ask, do elite perceptions match the reality of what motivates people to migrate? How does the public understand concepts like voluntary and forced migration? Are some perceived motives viewed more favorably by the public than others? Does public opinion shift when climate migration is framed as a response to a shared threat to humanity? And finally, do members of the public who have themselves experienced natural disasters have a more favorable view of climate migration?

Sub Unit

• Division 52: Migration & Citizenship

Individual Presentations

• Policy Elites’ Understandings about the Determinants of Migration Decisions - Carlotta Maria Minnella, European University Institute; Martin Ruhs, European University Institute

• Fleeing Voluntarily? How Projected Patriotism Shapes Attitudes towards Refugees - Olgahan Çat, University of Texas at Austin

• Countering Anti-immigrant Sentiment in the U.S. across Migration Motives - Diana Orces, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI)

• Compassion in Crisis: Disaster Victims’ Attitudes toward Climate Migrants - Jieun Susie Park, University of California Los Angeles; Jiyoung Kim, University of California, Los Angeles

Chair

• Heather Silber Mohamed Clark University

Discussant

• Heather Silber Mohamed Clark University