After the Syrian war that started in 2011, millions of Syrians settled in Turkey. Over the past years, the employment market and working life have become an important problem area for both Syrians and the local community. With this, one of the important problems related to working life is Syrian children who are condemned to working life when they should be integrated into the education system. It is seen that the rate of working among Syrian children in Turkey is quite high, and these children are employed in the agricultural sector in rural areas and as cheap labor in the industry and service sector in urban areas. Workplaces that employ Syrian children are important in terms of monitoring intergroup communication, discrimination and exclusion. The aim of the research is to understand the attitudes of barbers who employ Syrian children towards Syrians and the Syrian children they employ. The study was carried out with the qualitative research method. The sample of the research consists of eight barbers operating in Ankara. In this context, eight in-depth interviews were conducted in March 2022 through a semi-structured interview guide prepared by the researchers. The research data were analyzed under three themes: (1) general views and attitudes of employers towards Syrians, (2) the relationship between employers and Syrian children, and (3) social distance, prejudice, and discrimination. As a result, processes such as reviewing the migration policy, considering the security concerns of the society, developing the social welfare system in Turkey to include large masses, combating child poverty, education mobilization, and dissemination of intergroup social contact come to the fore.

Child labour, social contact, social cohesion, Syrian child.