Managing Contradiction: Civic Stratification and Migrants’ Rights

"I don´t put people into boxes, but…" A free-listing exercise exploring social categorisation of asylum seekers by professionals in two German reception centres

Newly arriving asylum seekers in Germany mostly live in large reception centres, depending on professionals in most aspects of their daily lives. The legal basis for the provision of goods and services allows for discretionary decisions. Given the potential impact of social categorisation on professionals' decisions, and ultimately access to health and social services, we explore the categories used by professionals. We ask of what nature these categorisations are, and weather they align with the public discourse on forced migration. Within an ethnographic study in outpatient clinics of two refugee accommodation centres in Germany, we conducted a modified free-listing with 40 professionals (physicians, nurses, security-personnel, social workers, translators) to explore their categorisation of asylum seekers. Data were qualitatively analysed, and categories were quantitatively mapped using Excel and the Macro "Flame" to show frequencies, ranks, and salience. The four most relevant social categorisations of asylum seekers referred to "demanding and expectant," "polite and friendly" behaviour, "economic refugees," and "integration efforts". In general, sociodemographic variables like gender, age, family status, including countries and regions of origin, were the most significant basis for categorisations (31%), those were often presented combined with other categories. Observations of behaviour and attitudes also influenced categorisations (24%). Professional considerations, e.g., on health, education, adaption or status ranked third (20%). Social categorisation was influenced by public discourses, with evaluations of flight motives, prospects of staying in Germany, and integration potential being thematised in 12% of the categorisations. Professionals therefore might be in danger of being instrumentalised for internal border work. Identifying social categories is important since they structure perception, along their lines deservingness is negotiated, so they potentially influence interaction and decision-making, can trigger empathy and support as well as rejection and discrimination. Larger studies should investigate this further. Free-listing provides a suitable tool for such investigations.

The Racialized Welfare Discourse on Refugees and Asylum Seekers: The Example of “Scroungers” in Italy

The rise of anti-immigrant racism over the past two decades has taken place through multiple mechanisms and processes, including the resurgence of welfare racism, which has been re-functionalized towards refugees and asylum seekers. As a key weapon of today’s sovereignism and white supremacism, the “return” of welfare racism is intrinsic to the rise of neo-liberal racism and is an integral part of a global process of erosion of social rights, weakening of social citizenship, and dismantling of the welfare state. Welfare racism—a combination of racial discrimination in the welfare system and racialized welfare discourse—operates through discriminatory laws and measures related to social benefits and through public discourses depicting refugees, immigrants, and people of color as parasites and scroungers sponging off the welfare state. The resurgence of welfare racism in the last decade has seen the specific spread of welfare racism against refugees and asylum seekers as part of the dual war on asylum and on the welfare state. This article examines the ideological-discursive dimension of welfare racism (that is, the public discourses, rhetoric, and images), first analyzing the development, dimensions, and characteristics of racialized welfare discourse more generally, then focusing on racialized welfare discourses about refugees and asylum seekers in contemporary Italy. It explores the arguments and conceptual metaphors of the racialized welfare discourse on asylum seekers, revealing the devices and dynamics at play in the construction of the refugee as a “scrounger” and welfare abuser. Furthermore, it highlights the consequences of racialized welfare discourse on public policies (particularly on social policies and welfare controls), on migration policies (particularly on immigration controls and internal controls), and on the relationship between citizens and migrants, receiving societies, and newcomers.

Who Wants to Become Italian? A Study of Interest in Naturalisation among Foreign Migrants in Italy

Since the early 1990s, Italy, along with other countries situated at Europe's periphery, has become an attractive destination for migrants due to its lax regulation of migration and its job market. Despite its restrictive naturalisation laws, an increasing number of migrants are becoming eligible for Italian citizenship, which has led to a growing number of naturalisations in recent years. Existing research exploring naturalisation and its determinants has found migrants' ability to attain citizenship strongly depends on their interest in becoming a member of the host state, requirements (as defined by the host country), and their capacity to overcome various constraints such as the costs involved in the naturalisation process. However, few empirical studies have focused on immigrants' interest in naturalisation. To fill this gap, we analyse migrants' interest in naturalisation and how it correlates to their eligibility. This paper relies on the most recent data on interest in naturalisation from the 2018 and 2019 waves of the Regional Observatory for Integration and Multiethnicity of Lombardy (Italy). The results show that not all migrants are interested in naturalisation after assessing its perceived costs and benefits, thus confirming an instrumental approach to citizenship. Interest is mostly related to the legislation and conditions in the country of origin. Moreover, the relationship between eligibility and interest is highly dependent on civil stratification, and eligibility is not directly associated with interest.

Migrant families' access to ECEC and family policies: The Australian and Italian case compared

This paper analyses in a comparative perspective the degree of convergence in migrant families' access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) and work/family policies in two different welfare state regimes: Italy and in Australia. Using a framework based on the concept of conditionality-or the notion that access to support is conditional and based on an individual's personal and familial characteristics, circumstances or behaviors--the analysis examines the extent to which policies designed to support families with young children are accessible to migrant families. It argues that access to ECEC and family policies is restricted in both Italy and Australia according to a series of conditions, but that these conditions apply differently to people of different migrant statuses. In doing so the paper aims to improve our understanding of how welfare states respond to needs associated with migration for children and families and the extent to which they tend to converge.

The political determinants of the health of undocumented immigrants: a comparative analysis of mortality patterns in Switzerland

BACKGROUND

The health of undocumented immigrants is an important concern in most societies. However, there is no conclusive evidence that inclusive health care policies lead to better outcomes for this group of the population. The aim of this study is to analyse whether there is an association between inclusive health care policies and the mortality patterns of undocumented immigrants, or the distribution of different causes of death among those who have died.

METHODS

We analyse individual data concerning the deceased in Switzerland between 2011 and 2017. We proceed in two steps. First, we estimate and compare the patterns of mortality of Swiss citizens, documented immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. Second, we test whether there is an association between cantonal authorities' policies and differing mortality patterns. We use logistic regressions and multinomial regressions to estimate the relationship between legal status and mortality patterns both in Switzerland and across different cantons.

RESULTS

We find a difference in the patterns of mortality between undocumented immigrants and the other groups of the population. Specifically, death from circulatory system diseases is twice as frequent among undocumented immigrants compared to documented immigrants and Swiss citizens. However, this difference is smaller in the Swiss cantons that have more inclusive health care policies towards undocumented immigrants.

CONCLUSIONS

We interpret these results as an indication that policies that expand access to health services lead to better outcomes for undocumented immigrants. This finding has implications for research on civic stratification and public health. Further analysis is needed to evaluate the effects of extending public health care for undocumented immigrants in different contexts.

Differentiation from above and below: Evolving immigration policy and the integration dilemma in Singapore

Singapore is known for differentiating highly skilled and low-skilled migrants by regulating their social rights, employment, and pathways to permanent residency and citizenship. Since 2009, the city-state has made further differentiation between highly skilled migrants and natives, that is, native-born citizens. Existing studies on migrant differentiation mostly adopt a state-centric perspective. We argue that differentiation is also driven by forces from below. We introduce the concept of differential fairness to capture natives’ justification for differentiation between themselves and migrants, particularly the highly skilled. Drawing on survey data and in-depth interviews with natives and Chinese and Indian migrants, we show that natives demand for preferential policies to protect their interests. We further reveal that the measures of differentiation have created an integration dilemma, in which natives and migrants hold divergent views on fairness and expectations of migrant integration.

States and Refugee Integration: a Comparative Analysis of France, Germany, and Switzerland

The Syrian civil war led to mass migration and Europe becoming a potential site of refuge. How have Syrians experienced refuge in Europe? Drawing on 58 interviews with Syrian refugees in Germany, France, and Switzerland, we find that refugees continue to experience exclusion in all integration domains including those found as markers and means, social connections, facilitators, and foundations of integration . While our cases demonstrate that Syrian refugees in Europe experience discrimination across all domains, not all conditions are equal. Using narrative analysis, differences were observed within three integration domains. Accessing language programs was more challenging in France, finding housing was more challenging in Germany, and F type residence permits limited refugees’ rights in Switzerland more than in other countries. Discrimination across domains is deepening the socio-cultural-economic divide between autochthonous communities and Syrian refugees, but not all domains are equally divisive across countries. The findings outline that where these states outsourced refugee services, refugees experienced increased barriers to integration.

Administering the Union citizen in need: Between welfare state bureaucracy and migration control

How to determine whether mobile Union citizens have a right to social assistance? Research has shown how Western European Member States have made efforts to restrict Union citizens' access to their welfare systems over the past decade, whereby lawful residence has increasingly become the linchpin for entitlement. Member States have responded strikingly differently, however, to the complex administrative puzzle of dealing with open borders, the ability to verify lawful residence and the right to social assistance over time. This article makes an analytical and empirical contribution to existing literature by asking how Member States adjust their welfare/migration administrations to fit the Union's free movement regime and what implications this has for Union citizens. Based upon comparative case studies into the administration of social assistance rights in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the article develops a typology of three different models of administering Union citizens' access to the welfare state: the form, signal and delegation models. Demonstrating how bureaucratic design impacts the stratification of social rights in the Member States in different ways, the article concludes that studying alternative administrative models offers important insights into the functioning of territorial welfare states in open border regimes.

Irrational rationalities and governmentality-effected neglect in immigration practice: Legal migrants' entitlements to services and benefits in the United Kingdom

Governments' attempts to manage immigration increasingly restrict immigrants' eligibility to healthcare, education, and welfare benefits. This article examines the operation of these restrictions in the United Kingdom. It draws on qualitative research with civil servants and NGO expert advisors, and applies sociological theories on bureaucracy as a lens to interpret these data. Conceptually, the paper employs a generative synthesis of Ritzer's notion of "irrational rationality" and Foucault's perspective on "governmentality" to explain observed outcomes. Findings show that public service workers struggle with complex and opaque regulations, which grant different entitlements to different categories of migrants. The confusion results in mistakes, arbitrary decisions, and hypercorrection, but also a system-wide indifference to irrational outcomes, supported by human factors in contexts of austerity. I consider this a form of governmentality-effected neglect, where power operates as much through inaction as well as through intention, but which results in exclusions of legal migrants that are harsher in practice than in law.

Navigating the Representative-Politics-Liberal-Rights Dilemma: Social Policy Designs for Nonremoved Migrants

Although nonremoved rejected asylum seekers (NRASes) are declared unwanted, the liberal state is obliged to provide them with basic social protections. We argue that various social policy designs can mediate the representative-politics-liberal-rights dilemma and allow for (limited) access to differentiated, conditioned benefits. Drawing on migration control and welfare-state literature, the findings stem from expert interviews with stakeholders and document analysis in Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Welfare-enabling approaches are context specific, varying from path dependencies in Sweden to change-resistant forms of policymaking in Austria. In the Netherlands, exclusionary measures are explained by early general welfare retrenchments.

How does legal status matter for oral health care among Mexican-origin children in California?

This research examines the relationship between legal status and oral health care among Mexican-origin children. Using the 2001–2014 California Health Interview Surveys, the objectives are: (1) to demonstrate population-level changes in the legal statuses of parents, the legal statuses of children, and the likelihood of receiving dental care; (2) to reveal how the roles of legal status boundaries in dental care are changing; and (3) to determine whether the salience of these boundaries is attributable to legal status per se. The results reveal increases in the native-born share and dental care utilization for the total Mexican-origin population. Although dental care was primarily linked to parental citizenship early in this period, parental legal statuses are no longer a unique source of variation in utilization (despite the greater likelihood of insurance among citizens). These results imply that future gains in utilization among Mexican-origin children will mainly come from overcoming barriers to care among the native born.

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Speculation exists on the importance of documentation status for dental care.

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Parental documentation has not been uniquely important for dental care.

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Parental citizenship predicted differences in child dental care in the early 2000s.

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These differences subsequently decreased by 2014 when dental care rose for all children.

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Increases were especially prominent among categories of non-citizens.

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Declines in immigration imply that increasing attention to the native born is needed.

Migrant Women's Economic Success in Russia: Objective Reality and Subjective Assessment

This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the outcomes of labor migration by focusing on the effects of migrant legal status on the economic and perceptual measures of migration success. To study the effects of legal status, we use a sample of Central Asian migrant women who work in Russia and of their native counterparts who occupy the same positions on the labor market. Similar to the studies in the developed settings, we find that a temporary legal status is associated with an earnings penalty and that permanent legal status corrects this earning disparity. We also find that both temporary and permanent migrant status is positively associated with perceptions of pay inequality but that, irrespective of these perceptions, both types of migrants are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs than natives. We interpret these findings within the legal and social context of migrant economic incorporation in Russia and relate them to the findings from other migrant-receiving settings.

Convivere Con Il "Differente": Il modello italiano alla prova dell'immigrazione

L'articolo descrive la transizione migratoria dell'Italia, che l'ha trasformata da paese d'emigrazione in uno dei principali poli attrattivi dell'attuale scenario migratorio internazionale; dà conto dell'impatto demografico e sociale dell'immigrazione, nonché del suo significato culturale - la trasformazione dell'Italia in un paese multietnico e multireligioso -; ripercorre l'evoluzione degli atteggiamenti degli italiani verso gli immigrati; affronta, infine, alcuni nodi irrisolti della vicenda migratoria italiana, con particolare riguardo al tema del governo dell'immigrazione e del suo impatto sul mercato del lavoro.