Migration, Citizenship, and the European Welfare State

Abstract

This book examines the current dilemmas of liberal anti-racist policies in European societies, linking two discourses that are normally quite separate in social science: immigration and ethnic relations research on the one hand, and the political economy of the welfare state on the other. Gunnar Myrdal’s questions in An American Dilemma are rephrased with reference to Europe’s current dual crisis — that of the established welfare state facing a declining capacity to maintain equity, and that of the nation state unable to accommodate incremental ethnic diversity. The book compares developments across the European Union with the contemporary US experience of poverty, race, and class, highlighting the major moral-political dilemma emerging across the EU out of the discord between declared ideals of citizenship and actual exclusion from civil, political, and social rights. Drawing on case-study analysis of migration, the changing welfare state, and labour markets in the UK, Germany, Italy, and Sweden, the book charts the immense variety of Europe’s social and political landscape.

Getting by in Europe's Urban Labour Markets : Senegambian Migrants' Strategies for Survival, Documentation and Mobility

“…This 'productivity-poor' growth has been most visible in Italy and Spain, with productivity growth falling to very low levels, and it is linked to the increase in employment of less-educated workers. A particular characteristic of the Mediterranean economies is their dual nature: a technologically advanced primary sector, with high degrees of unionisation and state-regulation alongside an extensive underground economy of localised networks of smaller handicraft and industrial workshops, often family-based, which have now expanded to sectors that are integral parts of Spanish industrial economy (Calavita 1998; for Italy, see Schierup et al 2006). The relatively large informal sector is historically linked with the presence of self-employed workers, micro-enterprises and subsistence economies, while subsequently the policies of work flexibility have contributed to its existence (Quassoli 1999 (OECD 2006).…”

“…The role of immigrants in the economic picture is aptly summarised by Schierup and his colleagues in some of the subtitles of their most recent book: The Shifting Role of Migrant Labour: Between 'Primitive Accumulation' and 'Flexibilization' and From 'Irregularity' to 'Atypical Jobs' (Schierup, Hansen & Castles 2006). This points at the fact that immigrants, many of them undocumented, used to be a residual factor boosting flexibility in sectors under heavy global competition; while nowadays, many of them are regular workers and a central structural component of the economy.…”

“…The booming Spanish labour market represents a truly dual system, where a relatively regulated labour market and welfare regime protects part of the citizens, while a large traditional informal sector has recently started to harbour (and exploit) mostly immigrants in the quest to enhance post-Fordist flexibility (Schierup, Hansen & Castles 2006). The main economic sectors, like agriculture, construction and tourism, and their structure (the predominance of small companies) lend themselves more to these developments.…”

“…There can be no doubt that successful immigration policies rely heavily on the successful integration of immigrants, not least because of the 'dual crisis of the welfare state and the nation' (Schierup, Hansen & Castles 2006). Public opinion may only accept increasing numbers of migrants if they feel the social protection and the perceived identity of the nation is secured.…”

Introduction: Moving Targets Risk, Security, and the Social in Twentieth-Century Europe

“…In this respect, West Germany's pension debates echoed those in neighboring France in the interwar period and continuing after decolonization, when welfare provision to Algerian immigrants, and especially to Algerian women, became the target of intense scrutiny (Lyons 2006(Lyons , 2009. It also chimes with debates about pensions, work, and immigration that have increasingly come to haunt post-Maastricht Europe (Schierup et al 2006). In West Germany, the question about the relationship between individuals and the community, and between generations, was further complicated by the uneven responsibility attributed to women.…”