Multiculturalism: From Heterogeneities to Social (In)equalities

Abstract

DFG Research Center (SFB) "From Heterogeneities to Inequalities"Whether fat or thin, male or female, young or old -people are different. Alongside their physical features, they also differ in terms of nationality and ethnicity; in their cultural preferences, lifestyles, attitudes, orientations, and philosophies; in their competencies, qualifications, and traits; and in their professions. But how do such heterogeneities lead to social inequalities? What are the social mechanisms that underlie this process? These are the questions pursued by the new DFG Research Center (SFB) "From Heterogeneities to Inequalities" at Bielefeld University, which was approved by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as "SFB 882" on May 25, 2011. In the social sciences, research on inequality is dispersed across different research fields such as education, the labor market, equality, migration, health, or gender. One goal of the SFB is to integrate these fields, searching for common mechanisms in the emergence of inequality that can be compiled into a typology. More than fifty senior and junior researchers and the Bielefeld University Library are involved in the SFB. Along with sociologists, it brings together scholars from the Bielefeld University faculties of Business Administration and Economics, Educational Science, Health Science, and Law, as well as from the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In addition to carrying out research, the SFB is concerned to nurture new academic talent, and therefore provides doctoral training in its own integrated Research Training Group. A data infrastructure project has also been launched to archive, prepare, and disseminate the data gathered. Research Project C3 "Transnationality, the Distribution of Informal Social Security and Inequalities"The goal of this project is to determine the influence of transnationality, as a characteristic of heterogeneity, on the ways that migrants and their families in emigration and immigration countries access and utilize "informal" social security. The study extends across transnational spaces between Germany and Turkey, Germany and Poland, and Germany and Kazakhstan. The question guiding the research is how transnationality influences the distribution of informal social security and resulting inequalities. Particular emphasis is given to the impact of transnationality on the use of informal services such as childcare, care of sick relatives, money transfers, assistance with integration, and job placement. The AuthorThomas Faist is Professor for the Sociology of Transnationalization, Development and Migration at the Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Germany. Furthermore, he is Deputy Spokesperson of the SFB 882 "From Heterogeneities to Inequalities" and Director of the SFB 882 research projects C1 "Transnationality and Inequality: The Pilot Project for the Panel Study" and C3 "Transnationality, the Distribution of Informal Social Security and Inequalities". His research interests focus on tra...

Δρώντες Και Παράγοντες Στη Διακυβέρνηση Της Μη Νόμιμης Μετανάστευσης : Συγκριτική Ανάλυση Των Παράτυπων Ροών Προς Την Ελλάδα

“…Μεταξύ άλλων προσεγγίσεων, ορισµένοι (Faist, 2010) Στην περίπτωση αυτή, η διεθνικότητα µπορεί να εµπλέκεται στη δηµιουργία ή/και αναπαραγωγή των κοινωνικών ανισοτήτων, οι οποίες προσδιορίζονται σε σχέση µε την ανισότητα ευκαιριών διαφόρων µορφών κεφαλαίου (οικονοµικού, πολιτισµικού και κοινωνικού), και όχι τόσο µε βάση το αποτέλεσµα (Faist, 2011) Η τελευταία εκδοχή, που έχει ονοµαστεί «αντιδραστική διεθνικότητα», υποδηλώνει ότι όσο πιο µεγάλη είναι η έκθεση στην περιθωριοποίηση τόσο µεγαλύτερη είναι η συµµετοχή σε διεθνικές δραστηριότητες οι οποίες δεν οδηγούν κατ' ανάγκη σε καλύτερα αποτελέσµατα (Itzigsohn and Giorguli-Saucedo, 2005: 904).…”

The Changing Relation Between Sexual and Gender Minorities and Religion in Finland: Some Observations in the Light of Postsecularity

“…Massoumi et al 2017) and when we take into account the risk that the Finnish NGO context might produce inequalities out of heterogeneities (cf. Faist 2013).…”

Transnational practices of Albanian families during the Greek crisis: unemployment, de-regularization and return

“…Thus, transnationality may be involved in producing and reproducing social inequalities which are understood in terms of inequality of opportunities in various forms of capital (economic, cultural, and social) rather than of outcome (Faist 2011). From this perspective, migrants' economic, political, and socio-cultural engagement in transnational activities has been seen as an alternative strategy to cope with the risk of downward mobility (Fauser et al 2012, p. 10), as well as an attempt to create a protective environment against discrimination and marginalization commonly found in the host society (Portes 1999, p. 471).…”