Browsing by Subject "integration"

This master’s thesis treats native speakers’ attitudes to non-native speakers’ spoken vernacular and standard varieties. It examines which theoretical factors researchers have to pay special regard to when studying attitudes to non-native variation. Based on these factors, the thesis evaluates which methods of the language attitude paradigm suit the study of attitudes to non-native speakers’ varieties best. As theoretical background serves the Communication Accommodation Theory in its adapted form for intercultural communication. The thesis draws upon previous findings on relevant factors for the study of native varieties, upon previous findings on relevant factors for the study of non-native language and upon previous findings on the nature of non-native varieties. In order to gain further insights, a case study is conducted. The case study examines native Finnish speakers’ preference of non-native Finnish vernacular and standard varieties. As methods, it employs both a matched- and verbal-guise listening test and a direct question approach. Furthermore, it gathers the respondents’ justifications for their speaker choices in the listening test. The justifications allow an insight into the respondents’ attitudes to the varieties. A non-random sample of 101 native Finnish speaking students from the University of Helsinki is tested. The speaker choices in the listening test are analysed by statistical means (chi-square test). The answers to the direct question and the justifications for the speaker choices are classified into groups of similar answers. The results gained by the listening test and the results gained by the direct question are compared. The findings suggest that the students do not prefer either non-native variety per se. Their variety preference depends on the communication situation. The students do not prefer the same varieties in the case of native and of non-native speakers. While both non-native varieties may sound nice, enthusiastic, self-confident and clear, only vernacular speakers are seen as particularly natural, authentic, relaxed and close to native Finnish speakers. Only standard speakers are associated with professionality in a broad sense, but leave in some cases the impression of sounding foreigner-like or not natural. Differently than in earlier studies on non-native vernaculars, the non-native Finnish vernacular is thus seen as mainly positive. The results of the two different methods do not match. Either or both of them can thus not be fully reliable. This thesis shows that native speakers’ attitudes to non-native varieties are not necessarily the same as to native varieties. Attitudes to non-native varieties have to be studied in their own right, thus. A multitude of factors influences the formation of attitudes to non-native varieties. Non-native and native varieties differ from each other in their form, in the way they are learnt, used and perceived as well as in what they express. Non-native language not as objectively produced by the non-native speakers, but as subjectively perceived by the native interlocutors influences attitudes. Furthermore, attitudes to non-native varieties are likely even more prone to the social desirability bias than attitudes to native varieties. Methods that elicit the respondents’ attitudes directly should thus be avoided. The findings of the Finnish case study indicate that also matched-guise tests may suffer from the social desirability bias because of variety recognition. Furthermore, voice recognition is an increasing problem in the digital age. Most methods of the language attitude paradigm do not study natural language data in real-life communication situations. This thesis reveals the need for more innovative research designs. It suggests therefore several methods that researchers of attitudes to non-native variation may employ in future.

This master’s thesis aims to provide a broader and deeper knowledge within the areas of migration and integration. The study tasks are how the diaspora community is involved in the overall migration and integration process in a host state and what role social networks play in different phases of migration. There are four essential conceptual features of the migration phenomenon are identified in the study: migration, integration, diaspora community, and social networks. These concepts are analysed focusing on the factors of migration, integration process, how diaspora community and social networks work. The analysis is done using a comprehensive case study on the Bangladeshi diaspora community in Finland. The study material is collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 Bangladeshi student migrants living in Finland. As a potential migrant group as well as an underexamined study group, student migrants are chosen the study participants. A thematic analysis of the data is carried out to unveil the underlying meanings of how student migrants narrate their experiences as an immigrant. The themes identified are used to critically reflect on and explore the aspects and dynamics of the nexus between diasporas and social networks in migration and integration. This study outcomes identify education as the major pull factor for the student migrants considering Finnish high quality of research facilities, education environment, and the fee-free study system. It also marks that both personal and social networks have a strong role in migrant’s decision of choosing Finland as their destination. The role of technology becomes prominent in the current age in terms of gathering information, admission procedure, and visa processing. This is even more realised due to the absence of the Embassy operation and other official communication channels. The study finds the diaspora community’s role is increasingly becoming significant in the present context, they provide migrants with access to information, job conditions as well as settling them with finding accommodation, education places, emotional support, and comfort of belonging in a host country. Within this journey of a migrant, social media platform has appeared as a crucial part of social networks and diasporas in terms of communication. Facebook groups have become a major communication channel. Additionally, the Corona situation has made online engagement among people more visible. Nonetheless, this diaspora-social network-migration-integration nexus can play both a supportive as well as a critical role for migrants as the experience varies.

Female migration has been widely studied in Europe. Previous studies had found that migration is gendered, thus, the experience of migrants differs depending on issues such as gender, class and ethnicity along with career and familial relations. The position of the migrants in the post-migration time period is influenced by the recognition of their skills and the assessment of human capital they possess in the host society, which has a considerable effect on the position of immigrant women. Thus, I employ a feminist extension of Bourdieu’s forms of capital in migration studies as a theoretical framework to examine the position of immigrant women and to better understand their experience in a host society. In addition, I utilize the ideas of emotional capital to discuss the importance of studying caring practice, including everyday activities and the caring work done for other family members, and its interactions with the outside of the household, the local community and, possibly, with integration. My focus is on the position of immigrant woman in Finland, a country where the Nordic welfare regime, which is built on egalitarian practices, creates a paradox for immigrant integration, as national belonging is built on labour market participation and the idea of gender equality. I pay specific attention to the Cash for Care scheme in relation to high female labour participation and the choices of childcare provision. Thus, my intention is to explore immigrant women’s decision making on childcare, what kind of activities the women engage in while taking care of their child, and their progress in integration. My research questions are: 1) do immigrant women utilize caring practice in capital accumulation; and if so, how? and 2) how do they generate various forms of capital and transform them into other types of capital and, ultimately, into economic capital? The sub-questions include: how does the notion of national belonging related to labour market participation and gender equality in Finnish society intertwine with individuals’ decision making with regards to the process of capital accumulation and transformation? I employed a feminist standpoint to conduct 6 in-depth interviews using a narrative approach. The interviewees are all from outside of the European Union, are highly skilled, have at least one child whose age is under three years old, have experienced staying at home with a child and currently live in the Helsinki metropolitan area. I utilized thematic analysis to explore the experiences of the immigrant women. The results show the potential for immigrant women to be subjects of capital accumulation, as well as objects where their capital is utilized in supporting and enhancing the lives of other family members. First, the results establish the importance of a local and neighbouring context in capital accumulation in relation to how caring for a child goes beyond the household, and is linked to the generation of social and cultural capital. The choice on the length of stay with one’s child at home intertwines with the social and economic statuses of the interviewees, but remains primarily a matter of individual preference. Second, two of the cases demonstrate the transformation of accumulated capital into economic capital through caring for other members of the family, which works as a resource of emotional capital. At the same time, the position of these women is constrained by social and cultural barriers, as they lack appreciated capital, the most important of them being a sufficient knowledge of Finnish language and culture along with relevant social networks. The position of immigrant mothers can also be observed from an objective viewpoint: there are limitations on the women’s ability to accumulate capital for themselves due to them taking care of the child. However, at the same time, the women can engage in transmission of capital and enhancing their children’s capital development. This thesis shows that the caring work of mothers goes beyond the household, contributing to the generation of capital in their integration process as well as for their children. Caring practice in research demands further investigation to better understand the paths of immigrant women and, possibly, the involvement of their spouses in this practice, in order to improve the women’s social and economic positioning in Finnish society.

Aims. In today’s society immigration and integration are undeniably important topics. Studies have shown that employment plays an important part in how well the immigrants’ integration process will succeed. However previous research has also found that some immigrants are subject to discrimination in work life and to some extent already during the recruitment process. This study aims to focus on the latter. The research done so far on this topic in Finland is relatively scares. By comparing the results of earlier studies this paper aims to fill that gap. Further this paper aims to map to what extent these results can be supported by theories of ethnic hierarchy as well as ethnocentrism. Methods. The material I have chosen to use for the analysis is six researches done in Finland. I have chosen to use research that is done after 2002. As a method I use descriptive literature review. Results and conclusions. The studies analyzed in this paper mutually conclude that discrimination has taken place during the recruitment process in Finland. In the recruitment situations, discrimination was often demonstrated by the fact that immigrants were not offered the same opportunities as the native applicants. Further, they were also less encouraged to look for work. Results, where Finns' attitudes were not particularly tolerant of receiving job-seeking immigrants to Finland, also appeared. These results were also supported by the immigrants' own experience, where they said that they had experienced discrimination in recruitment in Finland.

Emerging from the ruins of the World War II, European states sought to prevent new wars from breaking out by initiating a process of economic integration. The first step on the path to economic integration was the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, with further deepening by the establishment of the European Economic Community, eventually culminating in the establishment of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in the 1990s. Although the EMU can be considered the Holy Grail of European integration, its structure has significant shortcomings: monetary integration is strong, but economic integration remains superficial. This thesis examines the development of economic and fiscal integration in the European Union (EU) from the World War II to the 2020s. The analysis particularly seeks to answer how crises have impacted the progression of economic integration within the EU and what is the impact of the EU’s recent crisis response measures on the trajectory of fiscal integration. The thesis begins by examining the establishment of the EU and its initial stages of economic integration after the World War II. It focuses on the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in deepening integration, examining its methods of interpretation of Treaties to promote an ever closer Union. The thesis progresses chronologically, addressing the significance of the Eurozone crisis in deepening economic and fiscal integration. Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, it focuses on the EU's strong response in the form of the recovery instrument and its impact on the progress of fiscal integration and the structural asymmetry of the EMU. The main conclusions of the thesis are that European economic and fiscal integration have deepened significantly because of existential crises, even beyond what the Treaty provisions would prima facie allow, thus raising questions of constitutionality. Integration has been facilitated in part by the vague language of the Treaties and the Court’s creative, pro- integrative approach to legal interpretation, resulting in the EU gaining new competences beyond those explicitly granted to it. EU crisis management measures have acted as clear steps towards a fiscal union, thus correcting the original asymmetry of the EMU, but they do not in themselves create a genuine fiscal union.

Migration is becoming broader and more complex by the day. After the refugee crisis in 2015, the state policies revolving integration were revised in order to better meet the needs of the situation at hand. The revision lead to a strong focus on labour market integration, and consequently a narrower understanding of integration. Previous research shows that employment is the gateway to society, but at the same time it is widely acknowledged that sensing belonging is crucial for well-being, hence also a building block for integration. However, sensing belonging is constantly challenged due to migration. People move to Finland due to very different reasons, and also have different needs, therefore integration needs to be inspected from a broad perspective, taking into account various factors. Questions revolving what the objectives are with integration, and what it means for the individual as well as for the society are predominant when doing research on integration. The aim of this thesis is to place the immigrant in the centre of the discussion, to gain a deeper understanding of what is perceived as meaningful for integration and furthermore to investigate what value employment has within integration for the persons involved. The data was gathered during the spring of 2018, thematic in depth interviews were made with five informants, all of whom are first generation immigrants and have experience of working life in Finland. The results demonstrated that integration is a manifold process, that it was subjective and had a temporal connotation. A unanimous result showed that interactions with society, sensing belonging and employment are central for what is perceived as meaningful for integration. In regards to what the value of employment is within integration, a more shattered result was seen, central experiences were that employment gives financial security, purpose and daily routines. Furthermore, the result showed that perceptions of the value of employment were often loaded with faulty expectations that were not met in real life. The main result showed that employment was not a precondition for integration, neither was employment equal to integration, furthermore a differentiation between being employed and unemployed was far too easy to make, since today a lot of the benefits that a paid job gives can be found in other settings, for example through volunteer work. Despite this, financial security which only derives from a paid job was a precondition for all informants to be able to stay in Finland, and therefore employment was of great value for integration.

Avhandlingen beskriver den tidiga integrationsfasen för asylsökande som beviljats internationellt skydd i en medelstor kommun i Finland. Min forskningsfråga är: “Hur upplever asylsökande som beviljats internationellt skydd den tidiga integrationsfasen och vad anser invandrartjänstens personal om deras klienters integrationsprocess?”. Målet är att genom intervjuer med asylsökande som beviljats internationellt skydd och arbetare på invandrartjänsten skapa en helhetsbild av den tidiga integrationsfasen. Syftet med undersökningen är att identifiera vilka indikatorer i det tidiga skedet av integrationen som är betydelsefulla för en lyckad integrering samt hur upplevelser relaterade till de olika indikatorerna påverkar individens attityder, anpassning och identitet. I avhandlingen lyfts också fram de åtgärder som borde vidareutvecklas för att understöda integrationsarbete i framtiden. Mycket av den tidigare forskningen har fokuserat endast på arbetsintegrationen och sysselsättningsåtgärderna medan det också påvisats att andra indikatorer såsom till exempel språk och hälsa är av betydelse för att uppnå en lyckad integration. Avhandlingen är en kvalitativ studie som grundar sig på sex halvstrukturerade intervjuer. Fyra av deltagarna var asylsökande som beviljats internationellt skydd i åldern 19-29 år och två med arbetare på invandrartjänsten. Materialet är analyserat med innehållsanalys utgående ifrån Ager och Strangs syn på integrationen samt med tyngdpunkt på Berrys ackulturationsteori och Sue och Sues anpassningsteori. I analysen visade det sig att särskilt språkinlärningen som en indikator var viktigare men att alla indikatorer är sammankopplade till varandra direkt eller indirekt. Trots att alla de intervjuade ansåg att god integration var något de prioriterade högt så visade det sig att det inte enbart är upp till var och en själv att bestämma sin egen ställning utan yttre faktorer har en stor inverkan och kan styra personens integration och anpassning. Det framkom tydligt att det sociala kapitalet är viktigt för en framgångsrik integration och speciellt kontakten till majoritetsbefolkningen uppskattas i den tidiga integrationsfasen.

Mitt syfte med kandidatavhandlingen är att undersöka hur invandrare upplevt egenmakt under integrationstiden. Det som intresserade mig var att ta reda på i vilka situationer invandrarna upplevt en maktlöshet och vad som främjat en känsla av egenmakt under integrationstiden samt fundera på hur det integrationsfrämjande arbetet kunde utvecklas. Undersökningen består av fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med kvinnor med invandrarbakgrund. Intervjuerna gjordes 2017. Intervjuerna analyserades i form av temaanalys. Slutsatserna av analysen är att en känsla av maktlöshet förekom hos alla respondenter under något skede av integrationen, men att tre av fyra upplevde sig ha mera kontroll över sitt liv vid intervjuskedet jämfört med integrationstiden. Kontakten till myndigheterna beskrivs som den främsta där känsla av maktlöshet framkommit. Faktorer som inverkat negativt på upplevelsen av egenmakt är en osäkerhet hos individen, uteblivet socialt stöd och ovissheten om framtiden grupptillhörighet, familj, socialt stöd och strävan efter att bli en självständig individ som kan etablera sig på arbetsmarknaden anses vara bakomliggande faktorer till stärkt egenmakt under integrationstiden. Studieresultatet är en indikator på att integrationsarbetet är varierande och klientkontakten liten. Jag föreslår därmed att fler erfarenhetsexperter och s.k. invandrarkuratorer anställs i kommunerna som framtida insatser i integrationsarbetet.

The number of older migrants has been increasing in the world. Immigration to Finland has also been growing with Russia as one of the biggest nationalities. Older migrants are one of the most vulnerable groups since they might receive less attention than younger migrants, feel more insecure in a new environment, and deal with age-related processes, such as retirement, loss of a spouse, and declining health. Additionally, migration leads to relocation to a new society and adjustment to it, a language barrier, separation from family and friends, and other difficulties. A sense of belonging is crucial for migrants since it provides a feeling of comfort and affects their well-being, and negotiating cultural identity and belonging remains relevant even for those who lived in the country of settlement for decades. Creating a sense of belonging in the receiving society may be challenging for older people due to difficulties in learning a language, declining health, and socialization into origin ethnic culture long before migrating. That is why older migrants’ sense of belonging is a primary interest of this study. This thesis focuses on belonging through identity, which is defined as identification with a certain community, and on individual-level factors of belonging. In addition, the association between cultural orientations and types of belonging is examined. The thesis uses a quantitative approach and data from CHARM research. CATPCA is used to identify types of belonging and cultural orientations, and regression analysis is employed to examine the association between factors and types of belonging. Three types of belonging were found among older Russian-speaking migrants (50 years and above) in Finland : national belonging to Russians and Russian-speaking people in Finland, emotional belonging to communities of colleges, friends, neighbours in Finland, and belonging to Ingrian Finns. Worth noting that a core element of belonging to Ingrian Finns is a religion since it is one of the indicators of Ingrian Finns' identity. Similar to previous studies, local language may be one of the barriers to emotional belonging. However, “poor” Finnish or Swedish skills contribute to national belonging to Russians. Other significant predictors for all types of belonging health, religion, and economic situation. Additionally, orientations to Russian and Finnish culture are moderately and positively correlated, which indicates that migrants may orientate to both Finnish and Russian cultures simultaneously, and their cultural identities may be compatible. Orientation to Russian culture contributes to national belonging and belonging to Ingrian Finns. On the other hand, orientation to Finnish culture and belonging to Ingrian Finns are negatively associated. This thesis shows that older Russian-speaking migrants in Finland may have multiple types of belonging, and some of the most significant factors of national and emotional belonging as well as belonging to Ingrian Finns include language, health, and religion. Furthermore, the concept of cultural orientations is significant for migrants' sense of belonging, and the association between cultural orientations and a sense of belonging should be investigated in more detail

Multilingualism and multiculturalism are very common phenomena in the global world of today. People move into other countries and integrate in other cultures more than ever before. This Master's Thesis is a qualitative study on how multilingual people describe their linguistic and cultural identity and how it is to be a minority within the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge and understanding on people who represent a linguistic minority in the Swedish-speaking linguistic minority in Finland and how they describe their linguistic and cultural identity. The scientific approach of the study is phenomenological, which means that the study aims to describe the phenomenon of multilingualism, multiculturalism and integration based on informants' subjective experiences. Nine people were interviewed for this study, and the collected data were analysed using content analysis. All nine informants were living in the capital area of Finland when the interviews were done, but are born in another country. The results of this study demonstrate the significance of language and culture for a person's identity. The linguistic and cultural identities form during the entire course of life and can be seen as a lifelong process.