Changing labour migration politics in Germany: an organizational perspective

Abstract

Migration research has mainly focused on micro and macro level actors. Less research has focused on the meso‐level of organizations as actors influencing migration related processes. However, since modern societies are organizational societies and organizations are omnipresent in all spheres of daily life, their importance for migration issues should not be underestimated. Addressing this gap within migration research, the purpose of the following article is to apply a perspective of organization sociology to changes in migration politics. Referring to the German case with recent fundamental changes in migration politics, this article traces which roles organizations played in that process. It is assumed that they do institutional work (Lawrence & Suddaby, ), which means that they disrupt and change existing (migration related) institutions and politics. First, it gives insights into how existing institutions and thought patterns have been disrupted and reconstructed by (economic) organizations. Several strategies are observable. These include creating coalitions, advocacy, and social persuasion by introducing narratives which are alarming, morally compelling and convincing.

Bridging the state and market logics of refugee labour market inclusion – a comparative study on the inclusion activities of German professional chambers

“…Organization research is vast but there is only a small field of research on organizations and inclusion, which focuses on migrant organizations and their relation to inclusion in general (Ersoy et al 2018;Hunger 2004) as well as the influence of organizations on migration politics (Maletzky 2017). Less is known about the role of organizations in the process of workforce inclusion of migrants and refugees.…”

“…Whereas some research has focused on the refugee perspective on labour market inclusion (e.g. Newman et al 2018;Wehrle et al 2018) and the mismatch of capital because of migration in general (Erel 2010;Nohl et al 2010), less is known about the role of organizations supporting labour market inclusion (Landes 2018;Maletzky 2017) and the process of capital transformation. However, since we live in the age of organization societies (Schimank 2005), the transcending relevance of organizations in all areas of life may also be assumed for refugee (labour market) inclusion.…”