University of Queensland research has shown Australians are more likely to be homophobic than racist.
Research conducted by Professor John Mangan, from UQ’s School of Economics, and a colleague from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, looked at the amount of bigotry in Western countries with some surprising results.
?While countries such as Northern Ireland and Greece came out as the most bigoted countries, across the board more people were likely to be homophobic than anything else,? Professor Mangan said.
?In Australia this was very much the case, with the greatest prejudice focused on homosexuals.
?It was a surprise to see such consistency across all countries.?
Professor Mangan said the results, which were published recently in the journal Kyklos, were collected by asking people who they wouldn’t want to live next door.
?This gave us a better understanding of people’s attitudes as it was very much a case of people saying a certain groups is all right as long as they didn’t live next door,? he said.
He said only 4.6 percent of Australians wouldn’t want people of a different race as neighbours, while 24.7 percent of people wouldn’t want homosexuals to live next door.
In Northern Ireland the figures were 11.1 percent for people of another race and 35.9 percent for homosexuals.
Professor Mangan said the factors influencing bigotry were the level of your income; whether you were employed or not; your level of education; and what your political leanings were.
He said he was hoping to do follow-up research to look at how these attitudes evolve in particular countries.