ABSTRACT. The role played by environmental change as a push factor driving people out of their home and causing mass migration flows has received widespread public and media attention in the past couple of years. The European refugee crisis, recent migration flows to the United States and the Venezuelan crisis, for instance, have been often linked with severe and persistent drought episodes in the Middle East, Central America and South America, respectively. If negative effects of extreme weather events are becoming more common, there is a fear that this could result in mass out-migration from vulnerable countries into more prosperous areas such as Europe and North America. With most countries in Africa undergoing an age-structure transition which has resulted in a rise in the proportion of the working age population coupled with the aging population in most advanced economies, this raises a question whether replacement migration is a solution to declining and ageing populations in Europe. Whilst climate change and population dynamics are seen as potential key drivers of migration, the scientific evidence on the topic is unsettled. Despite an increasing number of empirical studies in the past years on the climate-related migration, we are still missing a coherent understanding to what extent and under which conditions environmental change influences human migration. Likewise, to assess whether Europe needs migration to deal with its declining working-age population requires scientific understanding of population structure and composition as well as knowledge about how the future population dynamics will look like under climate change. This talk will systematically synthesise the evidence on environmental migration and apply demographic approaches to analyse the fundamental question of whether and how migrants can help solve Europe’s aging problem.

ABSTRACT. Education is expected to contribute to inclusion by providing competence for work and participation in society, and by acculturation (see f.ex European Union 22.05.18). A particular aspect of acculturation in education is familiarizing with how the school system works: i.e. roles and relations between teachers and student, and responsibilities in the process of learning. This aspect is shown to be an important but challenging part in education for newly arrived minority students (Hilt, 2016). The paper investigates students’ experiences of getting grip of this ‘practice of schooling’. We question how students make sense of these experiences through their existing knowledges, experiences and expectations. Thereby, we contribute to the understanding how practices intended to create inclusion work, and how they are conceived by those defined to be in need of inclusion (Dobson, Agrusti, & Pinto, 2019). Historically, concepts of inclusion, integration, and diversity are intertwined, and as ideas, integration and inclusion presuppose exclusion. An individual in need of inclusion is thus in a vulnerable position as difference is considered as deviance installing the need for control or change (Anthias, 2013). We suggest that difference is rather seen a consequence of a plurality of developments from the same base, emphasising the association and thus ‘co-respondence’ of all life (Ingold, 2018). Acknowledging that structurally some lives are prone to experiencing marginality and powerlessness (Sheth, 2009), we investigate inclusion from the margins (Fricker, 2017), as an experience of becoming drawing on relations to material, epistemic and ideational worlds (Ingold, 2018). Discussing preliminary analyses of interviews with refugees, the paper asks how their experiences picture the process of inclusion and contribute to the discussion of inclusion as a practice.

Anthias, F. (2013). Moving beyond the Janus Face of Integration and Diversity Discourses: Towards an Intersectional Framing. The Sociological Review, 61(2), 323-343. doi:10.1111/1467-954x.12001 Dobson, S., Agrusti, G., & Pinto, M. (2019). Supporting the inclusion of refugees: policies, theories and actions. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-6. doi:10.1080/13603116.2019.1678804 Fricker, M. (2017). Evolving concepts of epistemic injustice. In I. J. Kidd, J. Medina, & G. Pohlhaus Jr (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Injustice (pp. 53-60). London: Routledge. Hilt, L. T. (2016). The Borderlands of Educational Inclusion. Analyses of inclusion and exclusion processes for minority language students. Ingold, T. (2018). One world anthropology. Hau: journal of ethnographic theory, 8(1-2), 158-171. Sheth, F. A. (2009). Toward a Political Philosophy of Race. Albany, New York: State University New York Press.

ABSTRACT. In 2018, the Danish parliament introduced a so-called paradigm shift in the Danish immigration policy, entailing a stronger emphasis on repatriation to the country of origin than on integration. However, this policy can also be seen as a continuation of the restrictive immigration policies in Denmark during the last decades. In this paper, we apply a perspective of risks being socially produced on the possible relations between immigration policies and education of migrant children in Denmark. The risk perspective is twofold, as we both study how migration is problematized as a risk in the official Danish governmental policies, and whether and how the very same policies may constitute a risk in education of migrant children. Thus, immigrants and not least Muslims in Denmark are not only constructed as risks in the welfare society; they may also experience ontological uncertainty due to unstable conditions caused by restrictive and fast changing immigration policies and a public discourse characterized by scepticism towards immigration. Theories of ontological uncertainty and ‘insecuritization’ related to immigration are used as starting points for an analysis of interviews with 15 Danish school principals, exploring how they, as representatives of the authorities, reflect on and relate their professional practice to insecuritization processes. Hence, combining an approach inspired by sociological theory on risk and uncertainty with a narrative ‘small story’ approach it is investigated whether and how narratives of welfare professionals responsible for education of migrant children relate to concepts of insecuritization found in public and political discourses on immigration. The study is part of the research project MiCREATE (Migrant Children and Communities in a Transforming Europe), funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Programme (2019-2021). The project explores how inclusion of migrant children may be stimulated by adopting a child-centred approach to integration at educational and policy level. Part of the project consists of studies of reception communities’ ‘destination effects’ on migrant children in various EU countries, among them Denmark, regarding national government policies and integration initiatives, best practices in schools, and political, media and general public attitudes towards migration issues. Being a part of this sub-study, the analysis of interviews will point to a more general discussion about the political discourse and the ideological framework in which the interviews are situated.

ABSTRACT. Abstract This paper presents findings on experiences of young refugees navigating educational system in two German localities from an ongoing qualitative-empirical field study. The proposal focuses living conditions of “tolerated” young adults refugees from Subsaharan Africa in Germany (SSA) and is based on the method of socio-pedagogical user research (Oelerich and Schaarschuch 2005). This method takes into account the structure of the local social services and the valuations and strategies of dealing with these circumstances by refugees. First results show that especially language barriers, lack of transparency of educational offers and the residence status restrain access to the education system for young refugees.

ABSTRACT. The laws about which migrants should be allowed to live and work in Denmark are a source of constant public and political debate, especially when it comes non-EU migrants. The Danish migration laws generally reflect what we term a risk logic, as access for non-EU migrants is dependent on having a contract for a relatively high salary or alternatively skills needed in the country. However, the current literature within the field shows that many other factors are important when people decide who should be allowed to live and work in a country. Using a conjoint survey experiment we test how seven commonly used categories for assessing migrants (the reason to leave the origin country, connection to the Danish labour market, gender, age, education, language skills, and religious background) impact on the willingness to award non-EU migrants residency. Overall, the results show that much of the variation can be explained in terms of a risk logic, where migrants who are more likely to contribute to society are more welcome. However, the results also show that groups like non-Christians and men are less welcome, which we interpret in terms of a logic of perceived threat. Finally, the results show that the reason to migrant does affect attitudes, in a pattern where migrants who are perceived to have higher agency in the process are less welcome. We argue that this draws on an agency logic

ABSTRACT. In democratic welfare states, a growing number of immigrants form a permanent part of the citizenry but are not recognized as full members of the demos. They are not naturalized and thus cannot vote in national elections. Being recognized as a full citizen marks a fundamental normative status (Arendt) which is vital for self-respect (Honneth; Rawls), but whereas the term recognition has been applied in migration- and citizenship studies of civil rights of minority citizens (Modood; Tully), the term is seldom applied in studies of the political rights of immigrants. As an exception, Warren recently remarked that the so-called demos-paradox (whether the demos should determine who belongs to the demos) should be analyzed in terms of recognition. Of course, concepts related to recognition are central to both empirical and normative studies of such policies. For instance, the empirical studies of access to citizenship focus on what applicants need to fulfill to achieve full status and rights. Likewise, the political theoretical literature focuses on who should have (i.e. be recognized) a say in the process of establishing who should belong to the demos (i.e. be recognized), and on what normative models and ideals to apply in determining legitimate forms of in- and exclusion (Abizadeh; Bauböck; Miller). Nevertheless, to the neglect of theories of recognition, the literature centers on whether the all affected-, the all subjected-, the stakeholder principle, and/or alternative versions of liberal and republican ideals of freedom and membership could ground legitimate justifications of in- and exclusion. Once it is realized that these studies are often about forms of recognition, it becomes possible to link theories of recognition to such contemporary debates. This paper aims to show that the theories of recognition as developed by Rousseau, Hegel, as well as contemporary critical theorists such as Honneth and Habermas could further the contemporary demos-debates substantially. The method is one of immanent and integrative critique (Benhabib), indicating that different ideals of recognition are already inherent to liberal, democratic welfare states. The central analytical points are that ideally the recognition of citizens combines different forms of recognition (Honneth; Neuhouser), and that recognition is a transformative practice (Habermas; Hegel). Furthermore, through an analysis of recent naturalization policies in Denmark, the paper illustrates how this theoretical approach can reveal problems inherent to the Danish naturalization practices. If the policies miss the dynamic and transformative modes of recognition, they may undermine the very aims of naturalization.

ABSTRACT. A main aim of most studies on migration and the welfare system is to test or contribute to literature on the ‘welfare magnet hypothesis’, that is, the expectation that immigrants deliberately move towards destinations with the most generous welfare provisions. The impact of this dominant hypothesis on the literature is threefold. First, prior research mainly focused on the question how the welfare system in the destination country may have an impact on migration decisions. This way, these studies implicitly assume that welfare arrangements in the destination country mainly influence immigrants’ choices prior to migration. Second, due to the focus on the welfare system in the destination country as a pull factor, the literature paid little attention to the importance of welfare arrangements in the country of origin. Third, studies on the link between migration and the welfare state typically have a quantitative nature, and mainly used broad, economic conceptualizations to measure differences between welfare systems. Such economic measures like the level of benefits, replacement rates, or total social expenditure are clearly simplifications of the welfare system, and probably do not reflect how welfare arrangements are experienced at the individual level.

Instead of testing the welfare magnet hypothesis, our study investigates whether migration has a broader impact on how immigrants experience the welfare system of the destination country after settlement. Drawing on 36 qualitative interviews conducted in the Netherlands, we focus on EU-migrants’ knowledge on, experiences with and evaluation of the Dutch welfare system. We compare our findings regarding these questions between three different welfare domains, namely healthcare, unemployment benefits and old-age pensions. Furthermore, we investigate potential differences between EU-citizens from three origin countries: Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. This way, we aim to move beyond the rather one-sided ‘welfare magnet hypothesis’, and contribute to a more complete picture on the link between migration and the welfare system.

ABSTRACT. Due to the globalisation as well as the acceleration of migration, Denmark has experienced a change in the composition of the population during the last decades. Based on unique Danish administrative registers data this chapter firstly gives an overall description of changes in the composition of the population, and secondly more in-depth longitudinal analyses of settlement patterns and outmigration in the period 1998–2013 in relation to immigrants’ Danish labour market affiliation and family. These analyses show that stable individual as well as dynamic characteristics influence the settlement and outmigration patterns of immigrants, that immigrants from the new Eastern EU countries have a lower propensity to leave Denmark again than immigrants from the Western part of the EU, and that immigrants with a residence permit as students, au pairs or interns more often leave the country than other immigrants. Furthermore, immigrants employed at basic-skill level have a higher propensity for leaving again compared with both immigrants employed at higher skill levels, self-employed and immigrants outside the labour market (unemployed and pensioners). Finally, and most importantly, linked lives are important, and a cohabiting partner in Denmark, especially a partner in employment, markedly reduces the risk of leaving the country.

ABSTRACT. The large recent inflow of asylum seekers to Europe can be considered as a substantive labor DEMAND shock: In the first months after arrival, they require government provided services like housing, administration and integration courses, while at the same time being banned from working. We estimate short-term regional employment growth due to asylum immigration based on a dispersal policy in Germany. Our results confirm significant additional employment growth that is driven by certain non-tradable, immigration related service sectors (public administration, health and social work) and construction.

These effects almost entirely stem from districts that host an initial reception center where centralized housing is provided and the asylum applications for a larger area are processed. Additionally, we find indications that an important share of the local employment growth is driven by changing commuter flows rather than transitions from unemployment or inactivity into employment. Interestingly, only German nationals benefit from these new jobs while foreigners from other countries than the main countries of origin do not. Finally, districts with high unemployment rates show significantly higher additional employment growth in tradable sectors as reaction to the inflow, when compared to districts with low unemployment. We hypothesize and find some evidence that sectoral mobility plays a more important role in satisfying additional labor demand in tight labor markets.

ABSTRACT. Main Issue: Grasping processes of labour market integration with the concept of differential inclusion What factors determine the processes of refugees’ labour market integration? To answer this question, the contribution bases on the concept of differential inclusion (Mezzadra/Neilson 2013), that emphasizes the intersection of multiple lines of inclusion and exclusion. To fill in this concept empirically, the contribution depicts refugees’ strategies in finding work in the German labour market. The focus on subjectivity enables to read in each individual case not only the structure of the social fields of asylum and labour, of education and training, but also the way people conceptualize and use these structures, considering the background of their biography. Methodology and Data Base The paper refers to the methodology of public service user research (e.g. Oelerich/Schaarschuch 2013). This form of user research takes into account both the subject’s meaningful horizon to interpret and use social services for personal aims and the institutional framework of organizational programs and practices. Instead of being representative, thick descriptions of selected cases enable to reconstruct the specific interrelation between modes of local governance and migrants’ strategies. Therefore, the paper bases on an investigation of three German municipalities that differ both in their organizational framework to govern labour markets and in their size. It selects data out of a participatory research agenda that includes (1) workshops with refugees, (2) biographical interviews (n=12) and (3) a joint evaluation of the questionnaire results. Findings Through the lenses of the concept of differential inclusion, mainly three bundles of factors determining processes of labour market integration occur: (1) Firstly, the personal and biographic dispositions, such as the social position in the country of origin, the gender, the educational and professional background; (2) Secondly, the refugees’ legal status position and the highly fragmented assignment of residence permits, which is described as civic stratification; (3) Thirdly, the specific local realization of social policy programms, such as language learning, qualification and other activating labour market measures in multi-scaled social policy areas. Research on refugees’ integration into the labor market has to take into account the interplay of these factors and, therefore, has to take a deeper look at the impact of migration control policies on integration processes and work out the specific “migration control - social policy nexus” (Atac/Rosenberger 2019).

ABSTRACT. In the early 1960s, Northern European nation-states experienced economic growth as a consequence of increased and rapid industrialization. This economic growth led to increased demand for manual labor which the countries’ workforce was insufficient in numbers to fulfill. So-called ‘guest worker programs’ ensured a high influx of workers particularly from Turkey, Yugoslavia, Pakistan, and Morocco performing the work in the unskilled labor sector. These migrants assumed their work stay to be of a temporary nature and a means to ensure financial security for their families in their country of origin. Likewise, the Northern European nation-states were under the assumption that the guest workers would return if the economic growth would stall, and their participation in the labor market would become obsolete. As evident by the paper’s informants’ (children of migrants) stories, this was often not the case. Instead, many guest worker migrants achieved family reunification with their families and settled permanently, leading to children of migrants entering the national education systems. This paper explores how the welfare states of Northern Europe since the 1960s have addressed, both in policy and in practice, the growing number of children of migrants in their public national education systems. The focus is on how migrant students have become fabricated as “a problem” for Northern European welfare states’ education policy and which pedagogical interventions the migrant students consequently encounter in practice. This study builds upon a comparative mapping of four Northern European nation-states’ education policies for managing this emerging group of students as well as oral history interviews with former migrant students to gain knowledge of the varying practices stemming from the policy changes using one of the four countries, Denmark, as a case. The four selected countries are Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands, based on an assumption of them currently facing similar migration or integration challenges and being fairly homogeneous (Larsen, 2017, p. 5). The results show firstly how the migrant students across the selected countries were in various ways historically invented in the policies as students who were culturally and ethnically different from the ethnically native population, hence in need of additional policy efforts. Secondly, the paper deals with the local variety of these efforts in practices within one nation-state through migrant students’ encounters of local differences in the school practices when relocating within a nation-state.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates the impact of diversity on conceptions and attitudes on nationhood, integration and belonging among ninth-graders in Swedish public schools. More specifically, the aim is to examine if experiences of actual diversity influences how young people think of Swedishness – what it means, who it includes, and how one acquires it. And, if so, in what ways and to what extent it affects such thinking. We define diversity, quite simply, as ratio of pupils with two foreign-born parents (outside of the Nordic countries) in the entire school in combination with the total number of such national/ethnic backgrounds in class. The analysis draws on a survey that was carried out in collaboration with Statistics Sweden (SCB) on a representative sample of more than 2,000 pupils across Sweden in the Spring of 2019. The paper engages with and contributes to influential assumptions and theories on the effects of actual diversity on young people’s views and attitudes towards ethno-cultural diversity and socio-political inclusion

ABSTRACT. In Denmark, the univocal celebration of the internationalisation of higher education has been put to a halt in and the presence of international students is increasingly debated. Fears have been raised at the political level that student flows from especially EU member states undermine Danish welfare when they make use of their Union right to study in Denmark free of charge – only to leave the country shortly after their graduation. This has turned the Danish government’s attention towards retention of students rather than attracting new international talent. In August 2018, it was announced that the number of English-speaking programmes at Danish universities would be reduced significantly in the attempt to ‘restore the balance’ between the outflow and inflow of students (UFM 2018). In spite of the controversy surrounding international students, little research has been conducted on their navigation through the Danish educational system. Beyond the realm of numbers and statistics, we know very little about the factors that inform students’ choices during their study-to-work transition. In this paper, I address this research lacuna by zooming in on the evolving narratives of 20 non-EU master’s students. The European Commission has singled out non-EU countries as key resources for economic development and created a stronger incentive for them to pursue a study in the EU and stay following their graduation. When viewed through a Danish lens, non-EU students constitute a particular attractive group – a prospective highly skilled workforce who, contrary to students from EU member states, are obliged to finance their own education in Denmark. By interviewing the students repeatedly during a longer period – from their arrival to Denmark in 2013 until today – I track the various moments of their paths to, through and out of Danish higher education. My findings suggest that students from in particular developing countries arrive to Denmark with the aspiration of settling down on a more permanent basis. They are unsatisfied with their home countries’ socio-political climate and hope that Denmark will offer a broader range of possibilities to unite their desires with their social realities. Following their graduation, most non-students however find that aspirations of staying in the country are complicated by the national immigration policies and difficulties of securing a job that match their educational qualifications. The majority therefore return to their home countries while others move on to third countries.

ABSTRACT. An extensive body of scholarship has claimed that encompassing welfare states might in general be incompatible with large-scale immigration. This is highly influenced by the US, where a multi-racial society offers only residual welfare programs. However, comparative analyses regressing social spending on immigration produce very inconclusive results. We address this puzzle by pointing to the role of the institutional design of social programs in the relationship between immigration and retrenchment. We separate programs according to their degree of middle-class involvement (MCI) and construct program-specific indices of MCI for the areas of unemployment, health and pensions for 28 OECD countries from 1980 to 2010. We then test the moderating effect of MCI on the impact of immigration on spending. Our results indicate that programs with low degrees of MCI do react to immigration by decreasing budgets whereas programs with high MCI increase their spending.

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates the effect of the German open border migration policy of 2015 and the actual inflow of refugees on regional parliament electoral outcomes and on individual concerns about immigration and party preferences. I differentiate between a macro (the general exposure to the information that refugees are coming) and a micro (being exposed to the refugees themselves) level effect. I employ a strategy that resembles a difference-in-differences framework by using county-level administrative data of regions which held elections just before and after the open border policy. I find that the open border policy increased the vote share for extreme-right wing (ERW) parties by about 10 percentage points compared to pre refugee crisis elections (macro level effect). However, I do not find evidence that the number of allocated refugees (as a share of the total county population in 2015) had any effect on the vote share of ERWs in the respective county. More interestingly, I define high and low refugee migration counties (based on the 2015 allocation) and find evidence of its impact on stated political preferences and reported concerns about immigration when using individual-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) (micro level effect). The pooled-OLS and fixed effects estimations show that on average, concerns about immigration increased by 23 percentage points in 2016 (as compared to 2014), but living in a high-refugee county reduced these concerns by about 3.3-4 percentage points, supporting the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954). Alternatively, I use the share of allocated refugees itself instead of the high/low refugee migration country dummy and find similar results. Evidence would also suggest that the open border policy produced a shift from preferences towards centre-right parties to ERW parties. In general, using aggregated administrative data I only find evidence of the macro level effect, while using individual level data I find evidence of the micro level effect as well.

ABSTRACT. We know from decades of migration studies that the policy goals are notoriousely hard to fulfil, and that policy failures are common. From a set of semi-structured interviews with street-level bureaucrats we have been able to spot a ”policy gap”. This divide is between what is proclaimed at the political level and the actual experiences and outcomes on the floor. The interviews were conducted in the central Swedish authorities in charge of implementing the migration policy, as well as representatives of NGOs,

Exclusion from the labour market and welfare institutions is one of the main thrusts of current policies aimed at irregular migrants or those without permission to stay, such as non-removed rejected asylum-seekers. Politicians promote such measures in pursuit of a variety of goals, and one of them is to deincentivize their residence. It is agued that a restricted access to work and welfare may give incitament to return, either voluntarily (facing the threat of losing access) or non-voluntarily (after having lost such access). The policy gap we have discovered is essentially an issue of implementation. How do bureaucrats at the street-level respond to and judge the policies of restricting access? Does it contribute to, or rather obstruct, other return policies?

Until quite recently, Sweden was famous for its comprehensive welfare regime that provided residents with support, care and some benefits independent of their legal status. This included irregular migrants as well as asylum seekers whose applications had been refused. Traditionally, the labour market has been more regulated and irregular migrants have essentially had no access to it, but the possibilities to uphold the regulations have been limited.

Since 2015, the welfare access has become more restricted and the control policy measures concerning access to the labour market have increased. This implies that not only has the legal situation become more restrictive but it was also undergoing such a process during the period (2018-2019) when the interviews took place. On the other hand, the regulations in Sweden stress the rights of minors, incuding those living in irregularity. Adults living with their children are therefore exempt from some of the rules that restrict access to welfare.

ABSTRACT. Large scale immigration has caused many states to adapt ever stricter civic selection processes, where different migrant groups may face different requirements. Even humanitarian migrants covered by UN treaties face a selection process of who should be allowed permanent residence, family unification, and citizenship. This paper discusses the challenges arising from civic selection from the perspective of recognition theories. Recognition is a concept that has, since 1990s, become central in critical social philosophy. This paper aims to show that recognition theories enable critical analysis of civic selection and immigration. However, it also highlights that many current institutional practices are pathological from the perspective of recognition.

It is helpful to understand recognition as something that comes in two distinct modes: horizontal (interpersonal) and vertical (institutional). Many rights depend on the institutionally given statuses (skilled worker, refugee, permanent resident etc.). In practice, the institutional recognition of migrants is problematic on many fronts. Cases of institutional mistreatment include unjust profiling, lack of case-sensitivity, and not relating to immigrants as individuals. Especially with refugees, the self-assessment of the situation is often overlooked in favor of ‘objective’ selection criteria, which undermines the agency of the migrant. On a more abstract level, immigrants are faced with lack of reciprocity. They need to one-sidedly recognize the institutions, which have full power to withhold recognition. Even as holders of global human rights, they are at the mercy of the local application of civic selection policies.

The institutional challenges appear already before and during the civic selection processes. After the process, migrants also face challenges on the interpersonal level of recognition. Even if the institutional status is granted, it does not guarantee interpersonal solidarity or esteem. As Burns and Thompson (2013) note, recognition is tied to a particular lifeworld. In this light, immigration sets two challenges. The first is the challenge of multiculturalism and recognition of diverging cultural practices. The second is the challenge of integration, and getting recognition in the new cultural context. It is argued that from the perspective of esteem-recognition, this is a question of work-rights and providing opportunities for making a contribution. From the perspective of care-recognition, rights to healthcare and family unifications are central. Achieving meaningful personal relationships is not guaranteed by giving rights but it is nevertheless dependent on the institutional recognition.

ABSTRACT. Newly arrived adult migrants are expected to participate in activities during their two years introduction period, as soon as they have received a residence permit. Among these activities, the purpose of which is to establish the newly arrived migrants in the Swedish society as soon as possible, are the Civic orientation course (Samhällsorientering) and the work related and work promoting activities of the Swedish public employment service.

From what can be found in policy documents and the course book, the aim of the activities is to foster the newly arrived adult migrants to become “good” citizens. It is implicitly expressed that this aim is meant to be reached through the meaning that the newly arrived migrants is given during the Civic orientation course of what a ”good” citizen is expected to do in society, and which characteristics he or she should have. This meaning giving concerns mainly three areas: employment and to be self-supporting, the Swedish language, and democratic values. Establishment (etablering) is achieved, as expressed in policy documents and the course book, when the newly arrived migrant has obtained employment through which he or she can support him- or herself, has learnt Swedish, and has adopted those democratic values which are prevalent in the Swedish society. Thus, an established migrant is a “good” citizen, according to the idea of the same in the policy documents. From the policy documents and course material, it is clear that a ”good” citizen is independent, responsible, free, active, secular and law-abiding. Further, he or she is a “good” parent and an equality thinking individual.

The theory chosen for data analysis and data interpretation, is two of Bourdieu’s central concepts, namely symbolic capital and habitus. Although these sociological concepts, in Bourdieu’s sense, are aimed at studying an individual’s own cultural and symbolic assets (Broady, 1991), they may also be understood and regarded from a societal perspective. One needs a specific kind of symbolic capital, to be able to gain and retain a position in the society where one lives. (cp. Broady, 1991). According to the results of the study, the demanded kind of symbolic capital in Sweden lies in the “good” citizen.

Reference:

Broady, D. (1991), Sociologi och epistemologi. Om Pierre Bourdieus författarskap och den historiska epistemologin. Stockholm: HLS Förlag.

ABSTRACT. The main interest in our study concerns the emergence of a new educational niche, intended for newly arrived highly educated people. Our research questions are focused on how this new niche should be understood and, in the next step, how it is perceived by the migrants participating in the educational initiative of ‘The short track’.

Our material consists of 60 interviews with newly arrived highly educated people who participated in ‘The short track’, three interviews with teachers and project managers, and teaching materials.

In order to capture the emergence of the niche of establishment education, we work with the concept of ‘shadow niche’. Educational programmes that are developing in the margins of both the educational system and the labour market can be said to take place in the shadows of educational fields and various professional fields. The niche of establishment training is also developed in the shadow of an administrative field where the Swedish Employment Service and the Social Insurance Office are central authorities and actors. The visibility of establishment programs in the higher education field or in labour market is small.

The purpose of the ‘The short track’ is to create the conditions for a selected group of migrants with academic backgrounds and professional experience to accelerate the entry into the labour market. Despite the academic framework, with one of the educational providers being Uppsala University, and the financial assignment being done through the State Employment Agency, the education has no legitimacy in neither higher education nor the labour market. After completing the training, participants can neither qualify for higher education credits nor obtain a recognized certificate for the labour market.

Furthermore, Academicum, the company mainly in charge of the education, is subject to market conditions through procurement and competition, together with the political decision-making which in itself is governed by the play of opinion, and is characterised by short-term and unstable conditions. In this context, we raise the question: how do teachers and participants handle the unstable construction of this education? The teachers and the participants show a strong commitment, and a confidence that change is possible in a short time. The commitment and the encouragement of this ‘positive future-thinking’ can be seen as an attempt to bridge and compensate for the instability and unequal conditions prevailing within the group of participating migrants.