Boris Heizmann

Symbolic boundaries, incorporation policies, and anti-immigrant attitudes: what drives exclusionary policy preferences?

ABSTRACT This research empirically approaches symbolic boundary making in the form of individual assent to selective immigration policy. Distinguishing two such types of boundaries, restriction based on immigrant skills and race/religion, we approach the antecedents of such preferences. Do economic or rather cultural concerns about immigration drive boundary making? We furthermore assess whether social boundaries in the form of integration and multicultural policies are of importance. The results obtained from the European Social Survey show that on the individual level, both forms of boundary making are mainly driven by cultural concerns. On the country level, net of several measures of diversity, integration policies dampen skill-related boundaries, while multicultural policies weaken the strength of cultural boundary making along race and religion. These findings expose the political embeddedness of processes of symbolic boundary making into the very policies that approach the respective type of boundary.

Acculturation and school adjustment of immigrant youth in six European countries: findings from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

School adjustment determines long-term adjustment in society. Yet, immigrant youth do better in some countries than in others. Drawing on acculturation research (Berry, 1997; Ward, 2001) and self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci, 2000), we investigated indirect effects of adolescent immigrants’ acculturation orientations on school adjustment (school-related attitudes, truancy, and mathematics achievement) through school belonging. Analyses were based on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment from six European countries, which were combined into three clusters based on their migrant integration and multicultural policies: Those with the most supportive policies (Belgium and Finland), those with moderately supportive policies (Italy and Portugal), and those with the most unsupportive policies (Denmark and Slovenia). In a multigroup path model, we confirmed most associations. As expected, mainstream orientation predicted higher belonging and better outcomes in all clusters, whereas the added value of students’ ethnic orientation was only observed in some clusters. Results are discussed in terms of differences in acculturative climate and policies between countries of settlement.

Immigrant Occupational Composition and the Earnings of Immigrants and Natives in Germany: Sorting or Devaluation?

In this article, the influence of immigrant occupational composition on the earnings of immigrants and natives in Germany is examined. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and the German Microcensus, several relevant concepts are tested. The notion of quality sorting states that the differences in wages that are associated with the immigrant share within occupations are due only to differences in qualification requirements. Cultural devaluation assumes a negative influence over and above that of quality sorting. The findings indicate that both processes are at work. Additional analyses reveal that the impact of immigrant occupational composition is largely restricted to white-collar occupations, which underlines the importance of considering historical differences between occupation types in classic migration destinations such as Germany.

Immigrant life satisfaction in Europe: the role of social and symbolic boundaries

ABSTRACT The cross-national investigation of immigrant subjective well-being remains an understudied field, especially with regard to the link between institutional settings and individual outcomes. We approach this gap by investigating the role of policies regulating immigrant integration for life satisfaction. Immigrants’ status and life chances depend on the inclusiveness of integration policies in forms of rights given to immigrants in the receiving country. These policies differentiate immigrants from natives: exclusionary integration policies understood as social boundaries should result in lower levels of well-being. We also consider an alternative policy type (i.e. multicultural policies) as well as symbolic boundaries (i.e. natives’ attitudes towards immigrants). We distinguish between national citizens, EU citizens and third-country nationals (TCNs). Results based on up to five rounds of data from the European Social Survey indicate that in terms of life satisfaction only TCNs profit from inclusive integration policies. Furthermore, while political multiculturalism does not play a role, we find that EU migrants appear more susceptible to the negative impact of natives’ anti-immigrant attitudes. Policy-making is more important for TCNs, while a migrant-friendly opinion climate is more important for EU migrants. These findings are robust to controlling for unobserved time-constant country heterogeneity via country fixed effects.

Die intergenerationale Weitergabe von Armut bei MigrantInnen zweiter Generation

Einkommensarmut ist eine der wesentlichen, besonders folgenreichen sozialstrukturellen Benachteiligungen. Ihre Auswirkungen reichen von einem unterdurchschnittlichen Lebensstandard (Andres et al. 1999; Andres 2008) und mangelnden Teilhabechancen (Bohnke 2010a; Kronauer 2010) uber geringere Lebenszufriedenheit (Bohnke 2010b; Christoph 2010) bis hin zu einer Kumulation gesundheitsbezogener Risiken (Lampert 2011). In Deutschland ist ein Zuwachs der Armut und eine Spreizung der Einkommensverteilung uber die letzten zwei Jahrzehnte belegt (Groh-Samberg 2007; Goebel et al. 2010). Das Statistische Bundesamt weist auf der Grundlage von Mikrozensus-Daten fur das Jahr 2011 eine bundesweite Armutsgefahrdungsquote (d. h. unter 60 % des Medians des Aquivalenzeinkommens) von 15,1 % der Bevolkerung aus und zeigt einen masig steigenden Trend in den letzten Jahren (Statistisches Bundesamt 2011b). Armut ist und bleibt ein zentrales gesellschaftliches und sozialpolitisches Thema.