An Outsider is Always an Outsider: Migration, Social Policy and Social Exclusion in East Asia

The Colleague-Outsider Conundrum

“…Due to these restrictions on the integration of the Zimbabwean migrant teachers, their sense of belonging is hampered despite spending several years teaching in South Africa. Additionally, the colleagueoutsider conundrum revealed by the findings from this study aptly resonates with the argument put forward by Ngan and Chan (2013) that an outsider is always an outsider. Therefore, it can be argued that the integration of the Zimbabwean migrant teachers fully into the South African society takes more than living in South Africa for several years.…”

Challenges to Refugees’ Socioeconomic Inclusion: A Lens Through the Experiences of Congolese Refugees in South Africa

“…The bulk of the available literature, as examined above, does not investigate the nexus between the existential barriers within the South African labor market and the prevalence of agentive processes of exclusion in the country. As already mentioned the few studies that examined social exclusion as a barrier to socioeconomic sectors were principally focusing on free population movements, for example, lower caste members of India (Kabeer, 2000 cited in Hickey & Du Toit, 2007; Ngan et al, 2013; Singer, 1997 cited in Bhalla & Lapeyre, 1997, p. 418). This particular article, however, conceptualizes and explores socioeconomic deprivations amongst outside groups (such as the Congolese refugees in South Africa) as a distinct consequence of negative capital.…”

“…), such work has mostly focused on free population movements and not on coerced forms of migration i.e. refugees (Kabeer, 2000 cited in Hickey & Du Toit, 2007; Ngan & Chan, 2013). While drawing closer to issues of social prejudices and the resulting deprivations, none of the South American/Asian studies focused on forces migrant groups, nor their full socioeconomic incorporation within the host states.…”

Explaining attitudes toward immigrants from Mainland China in Hong Kong

“…The tension between Mainland Chinese immigrants and Hong Kong locals has attracted widespread attention not only because it is one of the major obstacles for further economic and social integration between Mainland China and Hong Kong (Law and Lee, 2006; Yew and Kwong, 2014; So, 2010), but also because it takes place amid growing resentment against immigrants and foreign workers in Asia and across the world (Burrett, 2015; Chan et al., 2016; Cuddy et al., 2009; Lee, 2016; Ngan and Chan, 2013). In explaining the conflicts between the two groups, many accounts assert that anti-immigrant attitudes are precipitated by locals’ economic self-interest (Cheng, 2007; Fung, 2004; Garrett, 2013; Lee, 2016).…”