Konflikt, fellesskap og forandring

"In recent years, organizations and authorities in Norway have put a critical spotlight on parenting practices among non-Western immigrants, based on a concern for young people's autonomy and self-determination. The purpose of this book – which deals with parenting and social control in immigrant families from Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka – is to shed light on on this collision between different family norms and practices from different perspectives, and thus help to understand why family relations and social control have become a topic of contention in today's multicultural Norway. The books starting point is a sociological perspective on cultural differences, social control and change in a migration context. A key point of focus in the empirical analyzes are parental restrictions in young people's social life. How common are such restrictions within different groups? What significance do factors such as religiosity and socio-economic resources play in the exercise of social control? And what are the consequences for children's social participation, mental health and well-being? One aim is to contribute systematic quantitative knowledge on such issues. At the same time, the book contributes to a more qualitative understanding of people’s experiences and actions. How do parents from countries like Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka experience raising children and young people in Norway? What concerns have they had regarding their children’s encounters with various parts of Norwegian society? And how do young people navigate between different expectations and demands from the families and communities on the one hand and among their peers and the larger society on the other? We focus on the question of social change. Is the organization of family relationships and the exercise of social control within immigrant populations characterized by continuity or change? And what kind of mechanisms drive such changes forward? The book, which is published as part of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study in Norway, will illuminate these questions using quantitative data from a comprehensive survey of 16-17 year olds in Oslo and Akershus, as well as qualitative interviews – individually and in groups – with parents, adolescents and young adults with immigrant backgrounds as well as people in public help services and NGOs. ""Denne boka tar for seg foreldreskap og sosial kontroll i innvandrede familier fra Pakistan, Somalia og Sri Lanka. Hensikten er å belyse møtet mellom ulike familie- og oppdragelsesidealer fra flere sider, og slik bidra til å forstå hvorfor dette har blitt et hett stridstema i dagens flerkulturelle Norge. Boka tar utgangspunkt i et sosiologisk perspektiv på kulturforskjeller, sosial kontroll og endring i en migrasjonskontekst. Et siktemål er å bidra med systematisk kvantitativ kunnskap. Hvor utbredt er ulike typer strenge foreldrerestriksjoner i unges sosiale liv? Hvilken betydning spiller faktorer som religiøsitet, sosioøkonomiske ressurser og familiens botid i Norge for utøvelsen av sosial kontroll? Og hvilke konsekvenser har slike foreldrerestriksjoner for barnas sosiale deltakelse, psykiske helse og trivsel? Et annet siktemål er å bidra til en mer kvalitativ forståelse for hvorfor folk handler som de gjør. Hvordan opplever foreldre det å skulle oppdra barn og ungdom i det som for mange oppleves som et fremmed land? Hvilke bekymringer har de knyttet til ungdommenes møter med det norske samfunnet? Og hvordan navigerer ungdom mellom ulike forventninger og krav fra familie og storsamfunn? Sosial endring står sentralt. Er familierelasjoner og utøvelse av sosial kontroll innad i innvandrerbefolkningen preget av kontinuitet eller endring? Hva slags mekanismer kan eventuelt bidra til å drive endringer framover? Og i forlengelsen av dette – hvordan kan forskning og offentlig debatt bidra på en konstruktivt måte? Disse spørsmålene vil belyses ved hjelp av kvantitative data fra en omfattende spørreundersøkelse blant 16–17-åringer i Oslo og Akershus, samt kvalitative intervjuer – individuelle og i grupper – med foreldre, ungdom og unge voksne i de tre gruppene, samt med personer i organisasjoner, hjelpeapparat og førstelinjetjeneste.

The Polish worker in Norway : emerging patterns of migration, employment and incorporation after EU's eastern enlargement

In 2004, Poland’s accession to the EU triggered what is now considered to be the largest migration flow to Norway in history. In the next seven to eight years, well over a hundred thousand Polish workers were recruited to work in construction, manufacturing, low-skilled services and agriculture. This thesis explores the ways in which Polish migrant workers have adapted to and become incorporated into Norwegian society during these initial years of an emerging migration system. The main research questions are: What factors and processes lead some Polish labour migrants to settle down in Norway and others to return to Poland? In a context of free movement, how do these migrants adapt and make decisions about length of stay, settlement and return migration? Under what conditions and to what extent are Polish migrant workers incorporated into the regular Norwegian labour market? What opportunities do they have to improve their position over time? What kinds of barriers do they face in the Norwegian labour market? Are Polish migrant workers likely to remain employed or do they risk exclusion from the labour market over time? How does structural change in the labour market in the wake of migration interact with processes of labour market exclusion? Drawing on different theoretical concepts derived from economic sociology and the sociology of immigration (including segmented labour market theory, social network theory and embeddedness), this thesis addresses a central theme: the complex relationship between large-scale labour migration and structural changes in the labour market and the ways in which these changes shape the opportunity structures that face migrant workers. The analysis is based primarily on two methodologically innovative surveys conducted using Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) to study Polish migrants in Oslo in 2006 and 2010 and qualitative interviews with Polish migrants and Norwegian employers. The study finds that although many migrants return home after a period of temporary work, many others go through a gradual process of settlement (often despite their original intentions) that can be conceptualized as three stages of migration. Although their freedom of movement as EU citizens provides an opportunity to extend the open-ended phase of migration for much longer than in the past, a gradual settlement process often occurs, shaped by family life and social networks and by opportunity structures in the labour market. I argue that because the migrant workers are recruited to satisfy a permanent need for labour and because family life and social obligations place considerable constraints on transnational and circular adaptations over time, a substantial share of them will most likely end up settling permanently in Norway. The analyses thus suggest that some contemporary accounts emphasizing the fluidity and transience of today’s intra-European East-West mobility may be slightly premature. In the wake of large-scale recruitment of migrant workers, migrant-intensive sectors have gone through extensive structural changes involving casualization of labour relations, ethnic segmentation and the rise of new forms of labour-market inequality between native and immigrant workers. In their efforts to access stable employment, Polish migrants face several obstacles, including cultural constructions of otherness and employers’ notions of nationally ascribed suitability for different kinds of work, typically framed in terms of different “work cultures”. Often used by the migrants themselves when competing for jobs and assignments, such stereotyped notions become self-fulfilling prophesies which shape labour demand and help migrants access peripheral parts of the labour market, while restricting their opportunities for upward mobility. The study found that atypical and precarious employment substantially increased the risk of unemployment in a period of labour-market uncertainty and lowered demand after the international financial crisis. Combined with the gradual process of settlement, the establishment of new precarious and substandard immigrant niche employment segments, and the barriers migrants face when trying to access more stable employment, the analyses suggest that Polish labour migrants may risk facing more traditional “integration problems” related to labour-market exclusion and short employment careers

Konflikt, fellesskap og forandring

"In recent years, organizations and authorities in Norway have put a critical spotlight on parenting practices among non-Western immigrants, based on a concern for young people's autonomy and self-determination. The purpose of this book – which deals with parenting and social control in immigrant families from Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka – is to shed light on on this collision between different family norms and practices from different perspectives, and thus help to understand why family relations and social control have become a topic of contention in today's multicultural Norway. The books starting point is a sociological perspective on cultural differences, social control and change in a migration context. A key point of focus in the empirical analyzes are parental restrictions in young people's social life. How common are such restrictions within different groups? What significance do factors such as religiosity and socio-economic resources play in the exercise of social control? And what are the consequences for children's social participation, mental health and well-being? One aim is to contribute systematic quantitative knowledge on such issues. At the same time, the book contributes to a more qualitative understanding of people’s experiences and actions. How do parents from countries like Pakistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka experience raising children and young people in Norway? What concerns have they had regarding their children’s encounters with various parts of Norwegian society? And how do young people navigate between different expectations and demands from the families and communities on the one hand and among their peers and the larger society on the other? We focus on the question of social change. Is the organization of family relationships and the exercise of social control within immigrant populations characterized by continuity or change? And what kind of mechanisms drive such changes forward? The book, which is published as part of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study in Norway, will illuminate these questions using quantitative data from a comprehensive survey of 16-17 year olds in Oslo and Akershus, as well as qualitative interviews – individually and in groups – with parents, adolescents and young adults with immigrant backgrounds as well as people in public help services and NGOs.

The Making of Immigrant Niches in an Affluent Welfare State

This article explores how immigrant niches have emerged within two traditional working-class industries in Norway. Drawing on extensive case studies in urban and coastal areas, we analyze how employers perceive the availability and desirability of native-born and immigrant workers and discuss how these perceptions are related to underlying changes in the structure of employment. The article contributes to the literature by developing a general model of the formation of immigrant niches as well as pointing out the context-specific institutional conditions that explain how and why such niches emerge in the first place.The Making of Immigrant Niches in an Affluent Welfare StatepublishedVersio

Migrasjonssosiologiens svarte boks? Sosialpsykologiske prosesser i møtet mellom innvandrere og det norske samfunnet

Innenfor migrasjonssosiologien er det vanlig å gjøre antakelser om sosialpsykologiske prosesser og mekanismer på mikronivå. Disse prosessene og mekanismene har i blant blitt beskrevet på en lite presis måte: Man gjør antakelser om hvordan mennesker forholder seg til hverandre, men lar antakelsene forbli implisitte og impresjonistiske. Som stråmenn i artikkelen bruker vi to av våre egne tidligere artikler: Vi viser hvordan vi gjorde antakelser om grunnleggende psykologiske mekanismer i sosial interaksjon, men at disse antakelsene vanskelig lot seg undersøke innenfor de konkrete empiriske casene som ble undersøkt. Videre hevder vi at mange av de mekanismene som migrasjonssosiologer kan ta for gitt, ofte er blitt beskrevet og undersøkt på en analytisk og presis måte innenfor eksperimentell sosialpsykologisk forskning. Vår påstand er at den eksperimentelle sosialpsykologien kan tilby et repertoar av mulige forklaringsmekanismer som empirisk orienterte sosiologer med fordel kan trekke veksler på når man gjør tolkninger av hva som skjer i en rotete sosial virkelighet

Ethnicity as skill: Immigrant employment hierarchies in Norwegian low-wage labour markets

Immigrants are often concentrated in particular, often low-waged, segments of the labour market and employers tend to assume that immigrants posit (soft) skills which make them particularly suited for specific tasks. Less scholarly attention has been given to the real and perceived content of these skills and how employers may shift their view over time. We contribute to the literature by examining changing ethnic employment hierarchies in two immigrant-intensive labour markets in Norway. Drawing on qualitative data from the hotel and fish processing industries, we describe, first, how different ethnic groups are allocated into specific jobs forming a clear hierarchy in the eyes of employers, and, second, how employers’ preferences for particular groups change as new immigrants enter the labour market. Theoretically, we develop the concept of ‘ethnicity as skill’, which points to the tendency among employers to equate ethnic group membership with a set of informal qualifications.publishedVersio