Browsing by Subject "migrants"
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(2018)In recent years, European societies have been affected by processes of increased diversity and migration. This master’s thesis explores the involvement in the local civil society of migrants. It takes place within the context of organisations of multiethnic composition working for migrants’ conditions and/or rights in the capital cities of Helsinki in Finland and Athens in Greece, two European metropolitan areas with stark differences in their migration, integration, and civil society panorama. The main aim of the study is to investigate how individuals of migrant origin construct and present themselves as agents for civil society organisations. The theoretical framework for the research is informed by previous studies on social movements and the civil society, in particular the social psychological model by Klandermans and the corpus of research stemming from Goffman’s framing theory. Another central theoretical reference is Goffman’s impression management theory, not previously applied to this research area. Adopting a micro-social constructionist perspective, the theoretical concepts listed above are operationalized with the tools offered critical discursive psychology and positioning theory. The data consists of transcripts of semi-structured interviews with five participants in each city, active in different organisations and from different countries of origins. The analysis led to the individuation of three main self-presentation styles across the participants, varying on different dimensions including the fit between them and the organisation, their position towards the organisation’s team and towards its target – migrant communities. The three styles are: Team Player, Enterprising Leader, and Expert Critic. In light of the results, it can be argued that the participants all attempted to present themselves in a positive light as agents for the organisations. Plus, participants’ self-presentations were impacted on one side from their origin and the stereotypes attached to it, on the other from the dominant migration regime and its consequences for migrants and their integration at the local level. Over all, the analysis yields interesting insights on how societal, organisational, and personal characteristics impact the participation and position in the civil society for migrant actors.
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(2023)The City of Helsinki is the largest employer in Finland. During the last decades, Finland, especially Helsinki, has become more multicultural and multiethnic due to increasing international migration. The aim of this thesis was to examine whether migrant employees have observed and experienced more workplace bullying than their Finnish-born colleagues, and whether gender, age, education or being bullied in childhood might affect this association. The Helsinki Health Study, a questionnaire survey conducted in 2017, was used. In total, 5898 the City of Helsinki employees between ages 19 to 39 responded to the survey; of them, seven per cent had been born abroad. The methods used in the analysis were cross-tabulations and binary logistic regression. The results were broadly in line with previous studies. After adjusting for different characteristics, migrant employees were more likely to experience workplace bullying than their Finnish-born colleagues. In addition, women and the less educated reported workplace bullying more often than men and the highly educated. The highest risk of workplace bullying was found for those who had also experienced childhood bullying. The additional analysis revealed a higher likelihood to experience bullying for migrants born in Africa, the Middle East, and Russia. No difference was found in observing workplace bullying between Finnish-born and all migrants, but according to additional analysis, those who had immigrated to Finland from Africa and the Middle East had observed workplace bullying more often than those who had been born in Finland. The study provides further evidence that immigrant status is associated with a higher likelihood of workplace bullying among 19- to 39-year-old municipal employees. Further investigation is required to unfold the tendencies between different ages and education levels, sectors, and genders, so that workplace bullying can be tackled more effectively. When there are enough respondents, more precise comparisons can be made between migrants of different countries of origin. Workplace bullying in multicultural work communities should be studied with even more versatile methods, especially paying attention to the means that could be used to effectively and permanently reduce the bullying experienced by migrants. With the increasing shortage of labour force, especially in the health and social care sector, diversity at workplaces will increase in Finnish workplaces, and the wellbeing of all employees needs more attention.
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(2022)The share of migrants in the Finnish population has grown rapidly in recent years and the significance of migrants in the labor force is growing. It is therefore important to have more information about the health of this population group. Income is a major determinant of health, including mental health. This master’s thesis examines the role of income in incidence of mental disorders among first-generation working age migrants in Finland. A random sample of Finnish working age population in 2010 was included in the study. The register data was used to define the first psychotropic medication purchase between January 1st 2011 and December 31st 2014 to assess the risk of a mental disorder. Cox proportional hazards models was used to investigate the association between the region of origin and the use of psychotropic medication in low- and high-income groups and compared to Finland-born population. Association between migrant status and the use of psychotropic medication in income quartiles was also assessed. It was found that migrants have better mental health than their Finnish counterparts do when psychotropic medication is used as a proxy for mental disorders. It was also found that low-income migrants use psychotropic medication clearly less than low-income Finns do. In higher income categories, the difference between migrants and Finns is less pronounced and it eventually disappears. The results may reflect difficulties to seek and receive help in the mental health service system, especially amongst low-income and newly arrived migrants in Finland.
Now showing items 1-3 of 3