Civic Stratification, ‘Plastic’ Citizenship and ‘Plastic Subjectivities’ in Greek Immigration Policy

This article critically discusses Greek immigration policy, its adaptation to current social conditions such as the extended stay of undocumented migrants, and political pressures from the EU, with special focus on three groups of migrants: Albanians, ethnic-Greek Albanians (Northern Epirotes) and ethnic-Greeks from former Soviet Union. Taking into account Greek immigration law, its implementation by public authorities and the diversity of immigration status and associated rights accorded to these three groups of migrants, we argue that there is a ‘plastic citizenship’ (from the notion of plasticity) developed, where boundaries are blurred and processes of becoming or not are fluid, changing over time and influenced by notions of who should belong and who should not, who is entitled to what rights and who is not. Plastic citizenship creates plastic subjectivities for migrants in Greece.     

Immigrants’ Transnational Entrepreneurial Activities: the Case of Ghanaian Immigrants in Canada

Immigrant entrepreneurship comes in two forms: domestic and transnational entrepreneurship. Domestic immigrant entrepreneurs depend on the host society for business success while transnational immigrant entrepreneurs depend on the contacts and partners in their countries of origin and other countries. In recent years, immigrants’ entrepreneurial activity has moved from the domestic to the transnational level because of the simultaneous business activities that such entrepreneurs conduct between their home and host countries. Transnational entrepreneurship has become one of the pathways that immigrants use to settle and integrate into the host society’s labor market, and at the same time contribute to their countries of origin. From this perspective, this paper explores the causes, nature, and practices of transnational entrepreneurial activities of Ghanaian immigrants in Canada. Using in-depth interviews and focus groups, the study finds that transnational entrepreneurship has become an essential strategy among Ghanaian immigrant entrepreneurs due to the large and growing number of immigrant communities and demand for ethnic products and services that are not produced in Canada. The study also finds that transnational entrepreneurship has become an avenue for immigrants to connect and create ties with Ghana and contribute to its economic development.     

Admission and Employment Criteria Discrepancies: Experiences of Skilled Immigrants in Toronto

This research contributes to our understandings of the employment experiences of skilled immigrants in Canada by complementing and expanding upon statistical findings from previously published studies. Through in-depth interviews with 35 skilled immigrants from Bangalore, India living in Toronto, Canada, findings indicate that migrants experience employment frustrations stemming directly from the discrepancy between admission criteria (foreign education and work experience) and employment criteria (Canadian education and work experience). After summarizing the statistical data on the non-recognition of foreign credentials, we conclude that among our sample of immigrants, frustrations stem not from credential discounting in and of itself, but from Canada’s point system for entry, which misleads these migrants about its existence and prevalence.     

Cities,Neighbourhoods, and the Challenges of Immigration

This article critically examines four specific aspects of Avner de Shalit’s book Cities and Immigration. First, it argues that the influx of cosmopolitan migrants, which de Shalit considers unproblematic for destination cities, may in fact pose a challenge to some cities’ ethos, and to the ethos of specific neighbourhoods within cities. Second, it contends that gentrification, contrary to what de Shalit suggests, may sometimes hinder rather than promote social mixing and migrants' integration. Third, it claims that most of the examples of mutual assimilation (de Shalit’s preferred model of inclusion) provided by de Shalit concern superficial interactions and exchanges between members of different groups. This raises both the empirical question of whether deeper forms of mutual assimilation are possible and the normative question of whether they are desirable. Fourth, it takes issue with two concrete policy recommendations advanced by de Shalit: the first involves assessing potential matchings between source and destination cities in order to advise migrants where to move; the second concerns prioritizing immigrants who might be better capable than others of facilitating the integration of future immigrants, due to their values, religion, or country of origin.     

Beyond the ‘Migrant Network’? Exploring Assistance Received in the Migration of Brazilians to Portugal and the Netherlands

This paper explores the tenability of three important critiques to the ‘migrant network’ approach in migration studies: (1) the narrow focus on kin and community members, which connect prospective migrants in origin countries with immigrants in the destination areas, failing to take due account of sources of assistance beyond the ‘migrant network’ like institutional or online sources; (2) that it is misleading to assume a general pattern in the role of migrant networks in migration, regardless of contexts of arrival or departure, including the scale and history of migration or the immigration regime; and (3) that ‘migrant networks’ are not equally relevant to all migrants, and that important differences may exist between labour migrants and other types of migrants like family migrants or students. Drawing on survey data on the migration of Brazilians to Portugal and the Netherlands we find support for these critiques but also reaffirm the relevance of ‘migrant networks’.     

Met expectations and the wellbeing of diaspora immigrants: A longitudinal study

Previous research has pointed to the importance of expectations for the adaptation of immigrants. However, most studies have been methodologically retrospective with only limited possibilities to show the optimal relationship between migrants’ expectations and actual acculturation experiences for their wellbeing and other aspects of psychological adaptation. Moreover, previous research has been conducted mostly among sojourners and students. This longitudinal study focused on the relationship between premigration expectations and postmigration experiences of diaspora immigrants from Russia to Finland (N = 153). We examined how the fulfillment of premigration expectations in social (i.e., family relations, friendships, and free time) and economic (i.e., occupational position, working conditions, and economic and career situation) domains affects immigrants’ wellbeing (i.e., satisfaction with life and general mood) after migration. Three alternative models of expectation confirmation (i.e., disconfirmation model, ideal point model, and the importance of experiences only) derived from previous organizational psychological research were tested with polynomial regression and response surface analysis. In the economic domain, immigrants’ expectations, experiences, and their interrelationship did not affect wellbeing in the postmigration stage. However, in the social domain, the more expectations were exceeded by actual experiences, the better were life satisfaction and the general mood of immigrants. The results underline the importance of social relationships and the context‐dependent nature of immigrants’ wellbeing. Interventions in the preacculturation stage should create positive but realistic expectations for diaspora immigrants and other groups of voluntary (re)migrants. Furthermore, policies concerning the postmigration stage should facilitate the fulfillment of these expectations and support the social adaptation of immigrants.     

The Burden of Geopolitical Stigma: Iranian Immigrants and Their Adult Children in the USA

The overall aim of this paper is to add several dimensions missing from current debates and scholarship on Iranian immigrants, migration, and belonging: The power of global political dynamics in stigmatizing migrants’ identities, the impact of geopolitics on migrants’ quality of life, and the disruptions to belonging and membership as a result of anti-Iranian prejudice. Through the use of in-depth interviews, I examine the experiences of 32 immigrant and second-generation Iranians residing in northern and southern California. The findings of this research demonstrate that the geopolitical relationship between the Iranian government and the USA powerfully impacts the lives of Iranians in the USA. Specifically, global politics facilitate a context that helps stigmatize Iranians’ identities and makes them more prone to experiencing social marginality, anti-Iranian prejudice, racial/ethnic profiling, and discrimination. Ultimately, these experiences put an effective cap on Iranians’ abilities to access opportunity structures and limit their access to belonging and social membership in the USA. An examination of the lived experiences of Iranian immigrants and their adult children offers important empirical and theoretical insight for the impact of contentious global political context on immigrant belonging and membership.     

Back and forth and in between: returning albanian migrants from Greece and Italy

On the basis of findings from a sample of Albanian migrants who have returned to their country of origin from Greece and Italy, we highlight that Greece attracts less skilled and less well off categories of migrants compared to Italy. However, the integration patterns tell a different story. In spite of the fact that Greece does not represent the first choice of Albanians seeking to migrate, and although those who go to Greece are not among the most qualified, nevertheless, they tend to adjust better to their host society and labour market. Furthermore, returning migrants from Greece seem to be better equipped and more likely to utilize the skills and knowledge acquired through migration compared to those returning from Italy.     

Constructing the stereotype of immigrants' criminality: Accounts of fear and risk in talk about immigration to Greece

This paper explores the discursive construction of immigrants' criminality in interview accounts obtained by a sample of Greek people in Thessaloniki (Northern Greece). Analysis, which adopts a discursive approach to stereotypes and category construction, indicates that fear and insecurity on the part of Greek people are represented as a sine qua non consequence of immigration to Greece. Two different lines of argument are used to account for the arousal of fear. According to the first, fear constitutes a corollary of a widespread stereotypical representation of immigrants as criminals. The stereotype of immigrants' criminality is considered to be ill‐warranted and it is attributed to the media or to other unspecified people. According to another, more regularly used, line of argument, however, fear is predicated upon the sordid living conditions of immigrants in Greece which make the probability of them being involved in illegal acts particularly high. In this case, fear is seen to derive from a ‘rational estimate’ of the probability of immigrant's involvement in criminal acts. Nested within the discourse of ‘risk’ the stereotypical image of immigrants' criminality is sustained and used to account for the need to protect the ‘ingroup’ from ‘immigrant groups’ through immigration control and surveillance. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Labour Market Discrimination: the Lived Experiences of English-Speaking Caribbean Immigrants in Toronto

The study examined the lived experiences of immigrants in Toronto from Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, with emphasis on their perceptions and experiences of labour market discrimination. The study employs a qualitative methodology and adopts a critical policy research framework which included a series of in-depth interviews. Based on the central argument that there is a disjuncture between the human capital model used at the policy level and the understanding of immigrant human capital on the ground, the study has found structural and institutional practices inherent in the Canadian labour market that are principal reasons for many immigrants’ poor labour market outcomes. Evidence from the study strongly suggests that there is an issue of racism and sexism at play in the Canadian labour market that negatively affects outcomes for Caribbean immigrants in Toronto.     

Examining Islamic Associations of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Immigrants in Greece

Abstract

Since the mid-1970s the territory of Greece has turned from an emigration to an immigration space. A considerable number among the thousands of immigrants that arrive every year in the country are of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin and of Muslim faith. Their Muslim background plays a significant role in the organisation of their communities. Islam is a strong factor when it comes to the development of their social life and in this sense it influences the process of immigrants' acculturation within the host society. The informal worship place (informal mosque) is the space where the faithful fulfil their religious duties, meet each other and spend much of their free time discussing and exchanging views on mundane and more serious matters. However, the majority of the informal mosques are related to various Islamic associations which hold their own views on religion, society and life. The Pakistani and the Bangladeshi Islamic associations in Greece fall into two broad categories: the missionary movements and groups and the organisations with a ‘political dimension’. An examination of the Islamic associations' discourse, activities and aims shows that the organisations of the first category promote a very conservative stance for their constituencies towards the host society, whereas those of the second category encourage the immigrants to integrate, while preserving, however, their ‘Islamic values’. Meanwhile, the efforts of the Greek state and society to integrate the Muslim immigrants with a long presence in the country lack in determination and effectiveness.     

The Perception of Myanmar Development on its Return Migrants: Implications for Burmese Migrants in Thailand

Recent development in Myanmar has created stronger pull factors on emigrant Burmese workers to return to their motherland. Using a survey of 433 Burmese migrants in Thailand as a case study, this paper examines the impact of Myanmar’s development on the probability of the return of Burmese migrants to Myanmar from Thailand. Development factors such as more foreign direct investment, deregulation, and improvement of public services will encourage Burmese migrant workers to return home. Additionally, in terms of economic development, better job opportunities and political stability are also major pull factors for return migration. The main policy implication of these findings is that the chances that Burmese migrant workers will return home are high if investment opportunities followed by job availability and adequate wages can be found in Myanmar. Myanmar and Thailand should implement education programs set up by the Thai government and facilitate Burmese migrants’ children’s access to these programs as well as protecting migrants’ rights during the period of structural adjustment in Thailand.     

‘It's not really us discriminating against immigrants,it's more telling people how to fit in’: Constructing the nation in immigration talk in New Zealand

Previous research has demonstrated that talk about immigration can function to produce, reproduce and stabilize racism (Capdevila & Callaghan, 2008 ). In New Zealand (NZ), changes in immigration policy have seen a rapid increase in diverse groups of migrants with varied cultural backgrounds entering the country in the past two decades. Given its unique colonial history and ‘settler nationality in a bicultural nation’ (Bell, 2009 ), we explored how young NZ adults talk about and produce meanings and understandings of immigration, immigrants and cultural diversity. Appealing to notions of NZ as ‘one society’, as English speaking, and as English looking participants constructed NZ, NZ national identity and the NZ economy in particular ways. This constituted a nationalist rhetoric that was taken up in common‐sense ways by participants to legitimize racist talk whilst simultaneously acting to locate participants themselves as reasonable and moral individuals. It is concluded that nationalist discourses function to reinforce patterns of social dominance and perpetuate the notion of New Zealanders as largely white, European‐looking and English‐speaking. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Family Relationships among Immigrants and Majority Members in the Netherlands: The Role of Acculturation

This study examined the nature and size of differences in family relationships in five cultural groups in the Netherlands (Dutch mainstreamers, and Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean immigrants). In order to get a better insight into the differences in family relationships, a distinction was made between family values and family ties. Family values refer to obligations and beliefs about family relationships whereas family ties involve more behavior‐related relational aspects. Results confirmed that the cultural differences in mean scores between immigrants and majority members were larger for family values than for family ties. Individual background variables had a much stronger association with family values than with family ties. In addition, first‐generation immigrants had more traditional family values and reported stronger family ties than did Dutch mainstreamers. Second‐generation immigrants had more traditional family values than Dutch mainstreamers but they did not report stronger family ties. In conclusion, the distinction between family values and family ties as different expressions of family relationships is highly relevant in an acculturation context, because cultural differences between the various immigrant groups and the mainstream group are not the same for values and ties, and acculturative changes are different for both. On se penche dans cette étude sur les relations familiales, leur nature et leurs différences dans cinq groupes culturels des Pays‐Bas (Hollandais de souche et immigrants turcs, marocains, surinamiens et antillais). Pour accéder à une meilleure appréhension des différences dans les relations familiales, on a opéré une distinction entre les valeurs et les liens familiaux. Les valeurs familiales font référence aux obligations et aux croyances concernant les relations familiales alors que les liens familiaux touchent des aspects relationnels plus comportementaux. Les résultats confirment que les différences culturelles (estimées au niveau des moyennes) entre les immigrants et les membres de la majorité de la population sont plus nettes pour les valeurs que pour les liens familiaux. Le fond culturel des individus est plus fortement associé aux valeurs qu’aux liens familiaux. De plus, les migrants de première génération présentent davantage de valeurs familiales traditionnelles et témoignent de liens familiaux plus forts que ceux des Hollandais de souche. Les migrants de seconde génération ont également plus de valeurs familiales traditionnelles que les Hollandais de souche, mais pas de liens familiaux plus étroits. Disons pour conclure que distinguer valeurs et liens familiaux comme étant des expressions différentes des relations en famille est tout à fait pertinent dans un contexte d’acculturation puisque les différences culturelles entre les divers groupes de migrants et les autochtones ne sont pas identiques pour les valeurs et les liens et que l’impact dûà l’acculturation n’est pas le même dans les deux cas.     

Finnish parents’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship education

This study set out to investigate parental attitudes toward entrepreneurship education as evaluative directing components of social representations. A nationwide sample of parents (N = 625) was asked to indicate their opinions on a set of statements about entrepreneurship education. The parents’ attitudinal orientation suggested that they would rather avoid entrepreneurship education than approach it. Additionally, parental evaluations contained indecision and polarised opinions, and most parents saw it as unlikely or were unsure whether their children would become entrepreneurs. Parental attitudes correlated with the established representations of education and subsequent policy stands, suggesting that entrepreneurship education has been made familiar by anchoring attitudes in the field of educational debates. It was suggested that current trends in educational policy and work life may stimulate the formation of polemical social representations pertaining to entrepreneurship education.     

Talent for Citizenship and the American Dream: the USA as Outlier in the Global Race for Talent

The failed 2007 US Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA) included a “points-based system,” a proposal to shift toward supply-driven, merit-based selection. In an intensely polemic environment, this largely Republican initiative was opposed strongly by Democrats who argued that skill-based selection would weaken the traditional moral foundation of the USA, enshrined in its policy of family reunification. Through critical discourse analysis of policy documents and political rhetoric on the floor of the Senate during the CIRA debate, I explore the complexity of the relationship between neoliberalism, race, and immigration policy in the USA. I argue that the points-based system, which would severely disadvantage immigrants from the global south, became a foil for talk about Latino migration. The CIRA debate demonstrates the conflict in the USA between a need for (unskilled) labor and a nation-building project that excludes Latino migrants.     

Explaining the socioeconomic well-being of immigrants and returned migrants: An econometric analysis of the Hong Kong and Canadian censuses of 2001

This article focuses on an explanation of return migration to Hong Kong based not on the economic failure of Hong Kong immigrants, but on their strategic vision to accumulate human capital while abroad, which they then exploit on their return. We found that Hong Kong returnees with degrees earned abroad in 2001 constituted about 20% of the highly educated Hong-Kong resident group, with the largest flow emanating from Canada. An econometric investigation revealed that both the income and the odds of being a manager were significantly higher for returned migrants than for their counterparts who remained in Canada. Our findings suggests that this return migration is motivated by returnees’ ability to exploit their accumulated foreign transnational capital in the context of Hong Kong. Cet article repose sur une explication de la migration de retour vers Hong Kong, motivée non pas par la faillite économique des immigrants de Hong Kong, mais plutôt par leur vision stratégique consistant à accumuler le capital humain pendant leur séjour à l’étranger pour ensuite l’exploiter lors de leur retour. Nous avons constaté qu’à Hong Kong, le groupe de gens très éduqués était constitué, à environ 20%, de rapatriés détenant des diplômes obtenus à l’étranger, et que la plupart d’entre eux revenaient du Canada. Une analyse économiétrique a révélé que, par rapport aux migrants qui étaient restés au Canada, ceux qui étaient retournés à Hong Kong jouissaient d’un revenu plus ?evé et d’une meilleure chance de devenir cadres. Nos résultats permettent de conclure que cette migration de retour est motivée par la capacité des migrants de mettre á profit, dans le contexte de Hong Kong leur capital transnational accumulé à l’étranger.     

Should Cities Control Immigration Policy?

Avner de Shalit wants cities to have their own immigration policies. On a radical reading, this would transfer control over immigrant admissions from states to cities. But can cities choose the immigrants they prefer on economic or cultural grounds, or does this discriminate unfairly against those judged to be less desirable? I argue that de Shalit fails to apply the luck egalitarian principle consistently when discussing immigrant admissions. I also claim that there is a tension between seeing cities as the bearers of distinct cultural ethoses, and therefore as bulwarks against the homogenising effects of globalization, and disbarring them from carrying out culturally selective immigration policies. De Shalit’s own preferred model of the immigrant-friendly city – Amsterdam – appears to lack any distinct ethos, other than an ethos of welcome and cultural blending. Moreover, democratic states also have a legitimate interest in controlling immigration. They must be concerned about the consequences for social justice of admitting migrants and the political effects that follow when the migrants become citizens themselves. They must also consider the environmental impacts of population growth. Cities should play a major role in integrating immigrants, but not in admitting them.     

The Transformative Effects of Stigma: Coping Strategies as Meaning‐Making Efforts for Immigrants Living in Greece

The present article examines the strategies that immigrants living in Greece use to cope with stigma that arises in their interaction with both Greek society and their communities of origin. Drawing on interviews and focus groups conducted with immigrants from a variety of countries, a dialogical analysis illuminates the ways in which immigrants actively negotiate stigmatizing perspectives and transform themselves. Strategies include the deployment of social categories such as those of ‘human being’ and ‘crazy’ person, and concepts such as those of ‘lawfulness’ and ‘fate’. These were used to construct meanings of equality and inclusion into society, to deny responsibility for stigma and to discredit stigma as absurd. They enabled participants to see themselves as proud, equal, self‐dependent individuals who plan actions for social change. The article suggests that coping with stigma should not only be understood in terms of stress regulation, leading to positive or negative outcomes, as suggested by current literature, but as a meaning‐making effort, through which individuals transform the way they see themselves and act within their world. A meaning‐making approach moves away from individualistic, outcome‐oriented explanations to a socially situated perspective on stigma that studies the processes through which social meanings are subjectively perceived as stigmatizing and are used to challenge stigma. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Labor Market Performance of Immigrants in Smaller Regions of Western Countries: Some Evidence from Atlantic Canada

Despite recent interest in regionalization of immigration in host nations, most studies have analyzed immigrants’ economic performance by largely focusing on their overall national performance. A regional analysis is necessary because changing geographic distribution of immigrants can affect their economic performance positively or negatively. The present paper focuses on Atlantic Canada whose share in annual Canadian immigrant inflows has been traditionally low, but where recent policy initiatives have resulted in greater attraction and retention of immigrants. Immigrants are found performing better than non-immigrants in regional labor market. The importance of regional analysis of immigrants’ economic performance and contribution in host nations is highlighted.