Abstract
AbstractThis article considers what types of strategic communication messaging regarding migration policy are likely to be more or less effective. To do so, the article summarizes the literature to, first, note the broadly postulated effectiveness of value-based messaging and, second, note how underdefined this concept remains. To overcome this shortcoming, I introduce Schwarz’s psychological theory of “basic human values” and use European Social Survey data to visualize the relationship between these values and attitudes to immigration. I argue that messaging with a value-basis that is concordant with that of its audience is more likely to elicit sympathy, whereas that which is discordant with the values of its audience is more likely to elicit antipathy. Given the value-balanced orientations of those with moderate attitudes to immigration, persuasive migration messaging should attempt to mobilize values of its opposition; that is pro-migration messaging should mobilize Schwarz’s values of conformity, tradition, security, and power, whereas anti-migration messaging should mobilize values of universalism, benevolence, self-direction, and stimulation. I then turn to an inventory of 135 migration communication campaigns provided by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development. I show that few pro-migration campaigns contained value-based messaging, whereas all anti-migration campaigns did. Similarly, very few pro-migration campaigns included values besides “universalism” and “benevolence,” whereas anti-migration campaigns included values associated with both pro- and anti-migration attitudes. I visually demonstrate examples of each case before discussing ramifications for policy communication.
Highlights
What types of strategic communication messaging regarding migration policy are likely to be more or less effective? Studies of communication regarding migration have overwhelmingly focused on negative or unrepresentative portrayals of migrants by the media, which are argued to often be hyperbolic in order to garner additional readers or viewers, or by political actors using such frames for strategic electoral reasonsDownloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. 02 Nov 2021 at 11:25:14, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use.e18-2 James Dennison (e.g., King and Wood, 2001; Blassnig et al, 2019)
Policy Significance Statement This article provides policymakers with an understanding of what values-based policy communication is and how, using robust data, they can communicate policies that are concordant with the values of their audiences in a way likely to elicit sympathy
Academic research on migration communication has tended to be drawn from the fields of media studies or political science
Summary
What types of strategic communication messaging regarding migration policy are likely to be more or less effective? Studies of communication regarding migration have overwhelmingly focused on negative or unrepresentative portrayals of migrants by the media, which are argued to often be hyperbolic in order to garner additional readers or viewers, or by political actors using such frames for strategic electoral reasons. Given the value-balanced orientations of those in host populations with moderate attitudes to immigration—the so-called “moveable middle” that are the explicit target of many recent immigration messaging campaigns (e.g., ICPA (International Centre for Policy Advocacy), 2017; Carter, 2018) based on segmentation analysis of attitudes, “anxieties” and sociodemographic determinants (e.g., More in Common, 2017)—persuasive migration messaging is theoretically most effective when taking a values-balanced approach. This notion of the “moveable middle” has been linked to Downs’ 1957 Median Voter Theorem (Hemphill and Shapiro, 2019). Examples of each case are demonstrated before discussing ramifications for policy communication
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