The Making of Immigrant Niches in an Affluent Welfare State

Friberg, Jon Horgen; Midtbøen, Arnfinn H.

doi:10.1177/0197918318765168

Cited by 44 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…From the late 1970s, successive groups of refugees from countries like Vietnam, Chile, Iran, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Ethiopia, Syria and Eritrea also entered Norway, and subsequent family reunification and transnational family formation have been an important source of immigration throughout the period. As part of the open EU/EEA area from 1994, Norway also attracted immigrants from Nordic countries and Western Europe, and after the eastwards EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007, labour migrationthis time from new EU members like Poland, Lituania and Romaniaonce again became a major source of immigration (Friberg 2016;Friberg and Midtbøen 2018). By 2018, 17.3% of the Norwegian population were either immigrants (14.1%) or native-born children of immigrants (3.2%), according to Statistics Norway.…”

Section: Children Of Immigrants In Norwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does selective acculturation work? Cultural orientations, educational aspirations and school effort among children of immigrants in Norway

Friberg

2019

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines educational aspirations, expectations and school effort among adolescents, using the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study in Norway. In comparative terms, youth in Norway have exceptionally high aspirations. Nevertheless, we find an immigrant advantage in terms of both educational aspirations, expectations and school effort, despite considerable disadvantage in terms of low parental socioeconomic status and early educational attainment. A significant part of the immigrant advantage in aspirations and effort is associated with selective acculturation, defined as cultural distinctiveness in terms of religion, collective family orientation and regular use of parental language. This is however not the case for expectations. The findings support a central component of segmented assimilation theory, which states that in their efforts to overcome the challenges of integration, children of disadvantaged minorities may benefit from maintaining some aspects of their parents' cultural orientations.

show abstract

Section: Children Of Immigrants In Norwaymentioning

confidence: 99%

Does selective acculturation work? Cultural orientations, educational aspirations and school effort among children of immigrants in Norway

Friberg

2019

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Employers' preferences and demand for soft skills are not only related to stereotypes about different ethnic or racial groups, but also to stereotypes attached to workers' immigrant status and their specific position as new arrivers. Immigrants are often seen as less demanding than natives, and employers tend to see them as flexible, hard‐working and docile (Friberg & Midtbøen, ; Waldinger & Lichter, ). Immigrants' willingness to take low‐status jobs is often interpreted as a sort of skill or ‘work ethic' rather than reflecting their vulnerable situation in the labour market (Wills et al, ).…”

Section: Employer Preferences and The Hierarchy Of Suitabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Immigrants are often seen as less demanding than natives, and employers tend to see them as flexible, hard-working and docile (Friberg & Midtbøen, 2018b;Waldinger & Lichter, 2003). Immigrants' willingness to take low-status jobs is often interpreted as a sort of skill or 'work ethic' rather than reflecting their vulnerable situation in the labour market (Wills et al, 2009).…”

Section: Employer Preferences and The Hierarchy Of Suitabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Men doing women's dirty work: Desegregation, immigrants and employer preferences in the cleaning industry in Norway

Orupabo

Nadim

2019

Gender Work & Organization

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The literature on gender desegregation has documented the gendered nature of employment hierarchies and opportunities, but less work has examined how the influx of immigrants in the labour market might affect employment hierarchies and gender segregation. This study examines employers' perceptions of ‘the suitable cleaner' — a traditionally female‐dominated occupation that has received a substantial number of male immigrant workers. Departing from the notion that men in female‐dominated occupations are advantaged by a ‘glass escalator' effect, we analyse how employer preferences position different categories of workers as hireable. Building on interviews with employers in the Norwegian cleaning industry, the study demonstrates how three different but intertwined logics define employer preferences: effectivity demands, professionalization and devaluation. While the first logic favours men as workers and the second devalues ‘female' competence, opening the occupation for men, the third logic favours immigrants, combined positioning immigrant men on top of the hierarchy of suitability.

show abstract

“…The concept of immigrant niches refers to occupations and industries with a clustering of specific ethnic groups (Model 1993;Waldinger 1994;Friberg and Midtbøen 2019). Unlike ethnic enclaves, immigrant niches can be found in the mainstream economy, typically in the low-wage sectors (Chan 2013).…”

Section: Ethnic Niches In the Labour Marketmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ethnic niche formation at the top? Second-generation immigrants in Norwegian high-status occupations

Midtbøen

Nadim

2019

Ethnic and Racial Studies

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As an increasing number of highly educated second-generation immigrants are entering the labour market, their occupational trajectories are of growing interest. This article examines processes of mainstream inclusion and ethnic niche formation among second-generation individuals in three high-status professions in Norway: medicine, law and business and finance. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 62 descendants of labour migrants from Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco and India, the article identifies processes of ethnic niche formation both within mainstream firms and in the form of ethnic entrepreneurship. These processes do not simply reflect blocked opportunities to access the mainstream or strategic capitalization on ethnic resources but appear largely as unintended consequences of the ethnic competence of the second generation. Theoretically, the article contributes to the literature by offering a framework for studying the prevalence and mechanisms of ethnic niche formation at the top of the labour market hierarchy.

show abstract

The Making of Immigrant Niches in an Affluent Welfare State

Cited by 44 publications

References 29 publications

Does selective acculturation work? Cultural orientations, educational aspirations and school effort among children of immigrants in Norway

Does selective acculturation work? Cultural orientations, educational aspirations and school effort among children of immigrants in Norway

Men doing women's dirty work: Desegregation, immigrants and employer preferences in the cleaning industry in Norway

Ethnic niche formation at the top? Second-generation immigrants in Norwegian high-status occupations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About