Minority youth, crime, conflict, and belonging in Australia

In recent decades, the size and diversity of the minority population of contemporary western societies has increased significantly. To the critics of immigration, minority youth have been increasingly linked to crime, criminal gangs, anti-social behaviour, and riots. In this article, we draw on fieldwork conducted in Sydney, Australia's largest and most ethnically diverse city, to probe aspects of the criminality, anti-social behaviour, national identity, and belonging of ethnic minority youth in Australia. We conclude that the evidence on minority youth criminality is weak and that the panic about immigrant youth crime and immigrant youth gangs is disproportionate to the reality, drawing on and in turn creating racist stereotypes, particularly with youth of 'Middle Eastern appearance'. A review of the events leading up to the Sydney Cronulla Beach riots of December 2005 suggests that the underlying cause of the riots were many years of international, national, and local anti-Arab, anti-Muslim media discourse, and political opportunism, embedded in changing but persistent racist attitudes and practises. Our argument is that such inter-ethnic conflict between minority and majority youth in Sydney is the exception, not the rule. Finally, we draw on a hitherto unpublished survey of youth in Sydney to explore issues of national identity and belonging among young people of diverse ethnic and religious background. We conclude that minority youth in Sydney do not live 'parallel lives' but contradictory, inter-connected cosmopolitan lives. They are connected to family and local place, have inter-ethnic friendships but are often disconnected to the nation and the flag. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Cosmopolitan capitalism: ethnicity, gender and Australian entrepreneurs

This thesis investigates the way in which ethnicit\u3e\u27 and gender influence both the rate of enterprise formation and the dynamics of entrepreneurial life in Australia. It reviews the theory of ethnic enterpreneurship and international research on ethnic enterprises to provide a theoretical framework in which to study the Australian entrepreneurial experience. It also critically reviews theories of - and Australian history of - immigration and racialisation. The thesis then presents a history of ethnic entrepreneurs in Australia as an historical and contemporary backdrop to the analysis of three surveys of Australian entrepreneurs undertaken for the thesis. The Sydney Survey of 280 entrepreneurs in small businesses was conducted in 1988-92. The National Survey and the TAFE Survey were conducted in 1996, and cover about 1,500 entrepreneurs. The findings of these surveys suggest that ethnicity^ lass and gender shape the lives of Australian entrepreneurs in complex, changing ways. A key feature is the great diversity of paths to entrepreneurship for immigrants. Macro structural aspects, such as globalisation, shape immigration flows and the characteristics of different ethnic groups in Australia. Globalisation also has an impact on the opportunity structures that new immigrants face in their new country. The racialisation of government immigration and settlement policy and racial discrimination in the labour market also shape opportunity structures for aspiring entrepreneurs. Class is also critical, in terms of both access to class resources and the production and reproduction of the petit-bourgeiosie. It also stresses the importance of studying female ethnic entrepreneurs, and in considering the link between the sexual division of labour in the business and in the homes of entrepreneurial families. The thesis provides evidence on the economic contribution of ethnic entrepreneurs in Australia, and comments on the implications for immigration and employment policy. It suggests a reformulation of the theory of ethnic entrepreneurship. Finally, the thesis demonstrates that ethnic entrepreneurs have been at the vanguard of the renaissance of the small business sector of the Australian economy

Restructuring, migrant labour markets and small business

Changes in global economic patterns have lead to major shifts in both international migratory flows and labour market structures in Australia. This causes a reshaping of the process whereby migrant labour is incorporated, leading to unemployment among existing migrant groups, and restriction of labour market entry points for new arrivals. Another result of restructuring is the growth of small entrepreneurship. Qualitative research in inner Sydney explores the characteristics of migrant small businesses, showing types of enterprises, conditions for establishment, motivations of the entrepreneurs, use of family labour power, and chains of interdependence with larger firms. The analysis points to the need for re-examination of theories of migration and class

Immigrant crime in Europe and Australia: rational or racialised responses?

In Australia and the European Union today there is a very negative immigration discourse linked to the (alleged) criminality of immigrant minorities -particularly those from Asia and the Middle East - and the existence of ethnic criminal gangs. The issue of immigrant crime - linked to the issue of undocumented migrants and refugees - is driving much of the political agenda in Australia and Europe. This paper first reviews the recent European and Australian experience of immigrant crime and the politicisation and racialisation of the immigrant crime issue. It then draws on the findings from a two-year research project into Youth, Ethnicity and Crime in Sydney - funded by the Australian Research Council, the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and 25 industry partners, including 10 local government authorities and 10 ethnic community organizations in Sydney - to explore the myths and realities of immigrant crime in Sydney, including gender dimensions. The paper then critically analyses media portrayals of such crime and investigates appropriate policy responses at federal, provincial and local government level. Finally, the implications of the immigrant crime debate for immigration and settlement policies in Australia and Europe are discussed

Immigration and Immigrant Settlement in Australia : Political Responses, Discourses and New Challenges

Australian society has been shaped more by immigration and immigrants than most countries in the world today. This paper examines the changes to the character and composition of Australian immigration in the post-1945 period and analyses the impact of these changes on the public discourses and policy responses related to Australian immigration and settlement philosophies and practices in Australia today. It first looks at the Australian immigration experience, and how immigration policy has changed in recent decades as a result of globalisation. It then outlines the changing composition and character of the Australian immigration intake as a consequence of these policy changes, and at the key discourses about Australian immigration that have accompanied these changes. The paper then examines the way in which immigrant settlement or integration policies and practices have changed in light of the impact of globalisation on the political, economic and social climate in Australian society, with a particular emphasis on the debates about Australian multiculturalism. Finally, the paper addresses the new challenges for government policy makers and for decision makers in the private and non-government sectors of Australian society that are a consequence to the changing dynamics of the Australian immigration experience in a changing global world

Ethnic Entrepreneurship in Australia

This paper explores the historical and contemporary dimensions of immigrant self-employment and entrepreneurship in Australia. In doing so it draws on the growing literature on immigrant entrepreneurship in Australia and the literature on the impact of globalisation on western economies. The paper presents a brief history of the important role of immigrant entrepreneurship and self-employment in Australia before presenting 1996 census data on rates of immigrant selfemployment by gender and by generation. The paper then summarizes the key findings of the Australian research into immigrant self-employment, with a particular emphasis on the ways that the immigrant self-employed in Australia draw on class resources and ethnic resources. It ends by arguing that theories of immigrant self-employment must focus on two key, interrelated, aspects. First, the ways that ethnicity, gender and social class interact through a complex, uneven and changing lens of racialisation. Second, the important role of the way in which the processes of globalisation and the state responses to it shapes different patterns of the embeddedness of immigrants and, in turn, their opportunities as entrepreneurs and wage labourers

La situation socio-économique des immigrés

Même si la législation australienne en matière de droits sociaux et civiques accordés aux immigrés est plus souple que celle de la plupart des pays européens, des inégalités subsistent entre immigrés et Australiens de souche , et au sein même des populations immigrées , en fonction de leur origine et de leur maîtrise de la langue anglaise. Les restrictions actuellement envisagées sur le plan social risquent d'aggraver ces inégalités, et de déboucher sur l'exclusion de certains groupes d'immigrés.Collins Jock. La situation socio-économique des immigrés. In: Hommes et Migrations, n°1208, Juillet-août 1997. Médiations en tout genre. pp. 115-123