Transcript FidelM

Title: Migrants' Acquisition of Bonding,
Bridging and Linking Social Capital in
Intercultural Ireland.
Fidele Mutwarasibo
Research and Integration Officer at the ICI and PhD student at UCD
(School of Sociology)
Email: [email protected]
• Why are voluntary associations critical for the
migrants in their integration in the country of
residence?
– Migrants often have no vote
– Migrants may have no direct contacts with policy
makers
– Migrants often have little contact with mainstream
media
• Should migrants only invest their time in
associations that generate bridging and linking
social capital?
• Why should migrants have a channel of
communication with the establishment?
– Marginalisation and powerlessness
– Alienation and emergence of insurgents
– Examples of “ethnic/racial” tensions
• 2001 – North East of England
• 2005 – French riots
– Infra-political protest (Wacquant, 1993):
• Lyon Riots – 1990: $120 million
• Los Angeles (Rodney King) - 1992: $1billion
• Bristol – 1992 : 500 elite troops called in to restore order.
• Integration Models
– The ‘multicultural model’, based on ‘respect and protection of
cultural diversity’ and aimed ‘at explicitly guaranteeing the
identity of the immigrant community’.
– The ‘assimilationism model’ (also called republican or
universalistic), which has ‘equality at its root’, but only for those
individuals who fall with ‘the privileged category of “citizens”
– The ‘separation or exclusionist model’, characterised by
‘restrictive and rigid immigration legislation and policies’,
referring in this context mainly to the ‘legal conditionality that
must be satisfied in order to have access to and reside in the
territory.
• Robert Putnam recent work on Social capital
– Ethnic diversity is increasing in most advanced countries, driven mostly
by sharp increases in immigration. In the long run immigration and
diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and
developmental benefits. In the short run, however, immigration and
ethnic diversity tend to reduce social solidarity and social capital. New
evidence from the US suggests that in ethnically diverse
neighbourhoods residents of all races tend to ‘hunker down’. Trust
(even of one’s own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation
rarer, friends fewer. In the long run, however, successful immigrant
societies have overcome such fragmentation by creating new, crosscutting forms of social solidarity and more encompassing identities
• Definition
• Typology – Bonding, Bridging and Linking
social capital
• Levels
– Individual
– Group
• Social capital – Learning school for civic and
political engagements
– How easy is it the migrant to acquire social capital let
us say in Ireland?
•
•
•
•
•
the immigration regime;
lack or presence of an integration policy;
the attitudes of the media;
the attitudes of the general public;
the migrant’s attributes including: educational achievement,
employment status, political leadership, family status,
competence in the host country language(s), age, religiosity,
intended length of residence; etc.
• How representative are “they”? Do they form a
community after all?
– Community
• Common Territory
• Common History and Shared Values
• Participation in common activities and high degree of
solidarity
– Community in practice
• Neighbourhood or Geographical Communities
• Community of Interest (lone parents for example)
• Ethnic communities
• Funding regimes of migrants’ associations
in Ireland
– Overall picture and capacity
– Small grants
– Capital and staffing grants
– Individuals versus group funding
– State versus other sources of funding
– Sustainability
• Migrant Communities’ access to resources
– Learning from other Jurisdictions
•
•
•
•
•
Pluralism
Corporate (ethnic entrepreneurs)
Social economy
“Fully fledged” mainstreaming
Top down approach through community
engineering
• How can migrant Community
Organisations be more effective in
Ireland?
–
–
–
–
Working together
Forming a social Movement
Maximising on the skills of “migrant intellectuals”
Engaging with other actors in the civic and political
spheres in Ireland
• Recent Developments
– Funding sources: NAPAR, ERF, Ireland Aid
(Development education), County/City
Councils, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland,
Community Foundation for Ireland, St.
Stephens Green Trust, Pobal, Joseph
Rowntree Charitable Trust, etc.
– Fitzpatrick Associates Research –
Department of J, E and L R and NAPAR
– Atlantic Philanthropies research on the
promotion of migrants’ voice
• Future Prospects?
–Not a Seer!
–Time will Tell!
•Thank you all