Troubled by Law: The Subjectivizing Effects of Danish Marriage Reunification Laws

Abstract

Between 2002 and 2003, Denmark introduced further limitations on its already restrictive regulations concerning family and marriage reunification. While several studies, both Danish and international, have discussed the effects of these and other family reunification laws on individual practice, we know very little about the their effects on people's self‐perceptions and norms. Based on a qualitative data set, including a total of 89 interviews with young people of immigrant background living in Denmark collected between 1999 and 2009, this article seeks to provide answers to this and related questions. As a social technology, do the regulations create changes in the practice field of the respondents which they gradually come to see as natural and reasonable, or do they leave them in a troubling subject position (Staunæs, 2005) based on a socially and legislatively regulated stigma?

Can you become one of us? A historical comparison of legal selection of ‘assimilable’ immigrants in Europe and the Americas

“…It was the latest in a series of policies beginning in 2002 aimed at restricting family reunification by raising the minimum age of sponsored immigrants' spouses and assessing the couples' ties to Denmark. In a 2002 brief, the Ministry of Integration presented the law to limit the immigration of 'non-Western immigrants' (Schmidt 2014). As Kofman (2004, 254) summarises, 'It is clear that this is an attack against endogenous marriage, especially high amongst Turkish and North African populations, and an attempt to contain the growth of Islamic communities.'…”

“…In 2001, the Danish government accepted 6499 family reunification immigrants. After the family reunification law went into effect in 2002, the number of admitted family reunification immigrants fell to 2344 (Schmidt 2014). Regardless of how the Danish case is interpreted, the broad pattern among the six European cases is that the pre-integration laws reduced Muslim immigration without affecting the overall numbers of immigrants.…”

From Work to Welfare: Institutional Arrangements Shaping Turkish Marriage Migrants’ Gendered Trajectories into a New Society

“…The numerical significance of transnational marriages has spurred considerable research toward understanding the processes underlying their formation (Bryceson and Vuorela ; Beck‐Gernsheim ; Charsley ; Rytter ; Schmidt ). Regarding gender differences, this research shows that men and women of immigrant descent may have discrepant motives when they marry spouses from their parents’ country of origin.…”

Family Migration and Integration: <i>The Need for a New Research Agenda</i>

“…Danish family migration regulations have been criticised for targeting ethnic minorities. Some young people of immigrant background view regulations as exclusionary and unjust measures reproducing stigma and consequently leading to resentment and anger among ethnic minorities (Schmidt 2014). However, regulations also have consequences for Danish nationals who marry a third-country national.…”