Qualitative Migration Research: Some New Reflections Six Years Later

The main purpose of this article is a brief presentation of the most crucial stages of a research process concerning migration of foreign workers in Greece. The research (within my doctoral studies at Sussex University, Brighton, UK) was undertaken for a period of almost nine months (1995-1996) in Athens, Greece. In this article I present some important dimensions of the multiple methods used (semi-structured interviews with informational questionnaires, in-depth interviews and participant observation) to obtain information and data, mainly on the employment and housing conditions and situations of immigrants in the city, and take the opportunity to critically reflect on that researches methodology and findings today

European Integration and the Future of Social Policy Making

The basic aim of this paper is a brief presentation of the current situation as regards some central aspects of social policy formation and implementation in the European Union. The general rationale of the paper is the viewing of the European Union as one of the major global actors towards neoliberal globalization, resulting by the contemporary ideological and political dominance of certain social forces within it. The drive towards greater socio-economic liberalization, the emphasis on international competitiveness and the gradual commodification of previously considered public goods pose a remarkable threat to the European social model (or social models). The paper starts with a synoptic account of some crucial aspects of the contemporary social situation in the European Union (notably income distribution, unemployment, poverty and social exclusion) and of the most important social policy frameworks at European level. Subsequently the future prospects of the European social policy regime under the dominance of neoliberalism is discussed, opening new questions about the ways of reversing contemporary trends.

Conducting Qualitative Research on Desertification in Western Lesvos, Greece

The main aim of this article is to present some critical methodological strategies employed in a qualitative research study on local socioeconomic development and desertification in western Lesvos, Greece. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with local producers in western Lesvos, Greece, an effort was made to identify and analyze the links between the local socioeconomic trajectory and environmental marginality. The article concerns the justification of the choice of qualitative investigation on the matter, the main methodological strategies employed in the field, and the basic data analysis processes. In particular, we discuss the gradual development of a coding framework and a conceptual model for understanding and explaining the interrelations between local socioeconomic development, and characteristics and problems of land degradation and desertification

Technical Change, Productivity and Economic Growth

This paper investigates the relationship between productivity and technological change. The question that we shall address in this paper, is whether the recent slow down in productivity can be explained by the slow-down of innovation activities. This paper measures technical change through the application of a production function, and the Malqiust index in order to measure the effects of economic growth for European member states. It introduces the reader, first, to some basic elements and concepts that are central to understanding the approach. The characteristics of the innovation process are examined: its nature, sources and some of the factors shaping its development. Particular emphasis is laid on the role of technical change and dissemination based on the fundamental distinction between codified and tacit forms. These concepts recur throughout the paper and particularly in discussions on the nature and specifications of the systems approach. The paper concludes by summarizing some of the major findings of the discussion and pointing to some directions for future research activities.

Modeling the Technological Change and Innovation Activities for Estimation of Productivity Growth

Technological change and innovation activities contribute essentially to the regional dimension and productivity growth. The technological infrastructure and innovation capabilities affect not only the regional growth, but also the whole periphery and economy as well. In the last decades, OECD /introduced some measures and indexes, concerning the Research and Development Expenditures, patents etc., that measuring the innovation activities. However, there are a lot of problems and questions regarding the measurement of innovation activities at a regional level. This paper attempts to analyze the whole framework of innovation and technological activities and in particular to examine the methodological approaches, the appropriate measurement and also the statistical indices for estimation of productivity growth. On this context, it’s also aiming to emphasize and to review the appropriate techniques, the most common methods and to analyze the particular methodological and statistical problems.

Ripe to be Heard: Worker Voice in the Fair Food Programme

The Fair Food Program (FFP) provides a mechanism through which agricultural workers’ collective voice is expressed, heard and responded to within global value chains. The FFP's model of worker-driven social responsibility presents an alternative to traditional corporate social responsibility. This article identifies the FFP's key components and demonstrates its resilience by identifying the ways in which the issues faced by a new group of migrant workers – recruited through a “guest-worker” scheme – were incorporated and dealt with. This case study highlights the important potential presented by the programme to address labour abuses across transnationalized labour markets while considering early replication possibilities

Qualitative Migration Research: Viable Goals, Open-Ended Questions, and Multidimensional Answers

Following a brief review of the epistemological premises informing qualitative methodologies, I identify the key features of qualitative research undertaken in the verstehende or interpretative social-science tradition, which render it particularly well suited to capturing the inherent dynamics of the lived experience of human beings in general and, in our case, of immigrants: its multi-dimensionality; its ability to accommodate ambiguity and outright contradictions; its emphasis on the temporality and fluidity of social phenomena; and its insistence on the contextual and situational nature of human perceptions and agency. Next, I argue that the research goals appropriate for qualitative investigations as proposed by Charles Ragin (Constructing social research. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, 1994) – exploring diversity, giving voice, testing/refining theories or guiding concepts, and generating new research questions – can be realized by asking questions and gathering answers related to these issues in the context of (im)migrants’ experience. These claims are illustrated with questions asked and answers obtained through three standard methods of qualitative research: interviewing, observation, and document analysis. The examples draw from the current and emerging problem agendas in migration studies. I also discuss the strengths and limitations of research questions probing the complexity and un(der)determinacy of (im)migrants’ lives and the answers they generate

A generic conceptual model for conducting realist qualitative research: examples from migration studies

In this paper I propose a generic conceptual model for conducting qualitative research within the meta-theoretical premises of critical realism. I also make an effort to demonstrate the advantages of such a framework using examples from migration studies. Qualitative methods are predominately linked with meta-theoretical commitments related mainly to interpretivism, social constructionism, post-structuralism and post-modernism. Influenced by ‘cultural/linguistic turn’, qualitative research has followed a path towards discursive reductionism and relativism. I contend that this path circumscribes the inherent strengths of qualitative methods and limits their explanatory power. Recently however, there have been calls for other ‘turns’ which are more or less compatible with a critical realist alternative to strong social constructionism, post-structuralism and post-modernism – namely ontological, practice, complexity and materiality ‘turns’.Drawing on these developments, I propose a generic model for doing qualitative research the realist way. This model is based on ways of researching real causal powers (structural, ideational and agential) and their - synchronic and diachronic - interplay, in a qualitative manner. The model views qualitative methods as powerful means for the identification of complex, causal generative mechanisms which produce certain effects and (re)connect qualitative inquiry and research with reality and, especially, with the depth investigation of its intransitive dimension. It does that by utilizing the realist concepts of 'emergence', 'emergent properties' and 'substantial relations', which are predominantly concerned with qualitative changes and real connections characterized by causal powers of their own.The advantages of adopting such a model are shown by discussing its potentials for conducting qualitative migration research. More specifically, I use four examples from Greece which concern migration-related processes and phenomena. These examples concern informal immigrant employment in Athens, social mobility of immigrants in Greece, social capital and social incorporation of Albanian immigrants in Athens and the evolution of citizenship regime in the country. Through these examples I intend to demonstrate why merging realist meta-theoretical commitments with the inherent strengths of qualitative methods can result in more thorough and comprehensive understandings and explanations of migratory phenomena.The last part of the paper concerns a brief discussion of the urgent need to re-orient migration theory and research practice away from empiricist and relativist inclinations, and the central role that realist qualitative research can and should play in meeting this need.</p

A generic conceptual model for conducting realist qualitative research: examples from migration studies

In this paper I propose a generic conceptual model for conducting qualitative research within the meta-theoretical premises of critical realism. I also make an effort to demonstrate the advantages of such a framework using examples from migration studies. Qualitative methods are predominately linked with meta-theoretical commitments related mainly to interpretivism, social constructionism, post-structuralism and post-modernism. Influenced by ‘cultural/linguistic turn’, qualitative research has followed a path towards discursive reductionism and relativism. I contend that this path circumscribes the inherent strengths of qualitative methods and limits their explanatory power. Recently however, there have been calls for other ‘turns’ which are more or less compatible with a critical realist alternative to strong social constructionism, post-structuralism and post-modernism – namely ontological, practice, complexity and materiality ‘turns’.Drawing on these developments, I propose a generic model for doing qualitative research the realist way. This model is based on ways of researching real causal powers (structural, ideational and agential) and their - synchronic and diachronic - interplay, in a qualitative manner. The model views qualitative methods as powerful means for the identification of complex, causal generative mechanisms which produce certain effects and (re)connect qualitative inquiry and research with reality and, especially, with the depth investigation of its intransitive dimension. It does that by utilizing the realist concepts of 'emergence', 'emergent properties' and 'substantial relations', which are predominantly concerned with qualitative changes and real connections characterized by causal powers of their own.The advantages of adopting such a model are shown by discussing its potentials for conducting qualitative migration research. More specifically, I use four examples from Greece which concern migration-related processes and phenomena. These examples concern informal immigrant employment in Athens, social mobility of immigrants in Greece, social capital and social incorporation of Albanian immigrants in Athens and the evolution of citizenship regime in the country. Through these examples I intend to demonstrate why merging realist meta-theoretical commitments with the inherent strengths of qualitative methods can result in more thorough and comprehensive understandings and explanations of migratory phenomena.The last part of the paper concerns a brief discussion of the urgent need to re-orient migration theory and research practice away from empiricist and relativist inclinations, and the central role that realist qualitative research can and should play in meeting this need.</p

Political Self-Understanding, Cultural Openness and Public Attitudes Towards Immigrants in Western Greece

The aim of this article is to present research findings from a study of public attitudes towards immigrants in the region of Western Greece (the vast majority of them from Balkan countries). Positive and negative attitudes towards immigrants in the region are correlated with political self-understanding (across the left-right spectrum) and cultural openness as reflected in attitudes towards different languages and religions and towards intercultural communication between immigrants and locals. The findings suggest that the degree of cultural openness is indeed related to the orientation of general public attitudes towards immigrants and that political self-understanding across the left-right spectrum remains relevant for explaining these attitudes. The study nevertheless found that there is only limited willingness to develop close social relationships with Balkan immigrants and that the degree of such willingness is not significantly correlated either with cultural openness or with political self-understanding.Attitudes towards Balkan immigrants; political self-understanding; cultural openness