Ursula Birsl/Renate Bitzan/Carlota Solé/Sònia Parella/ Amado Alarcón/Juliane Schmidt/Stephen French Migration and Interculturality in Great Britain, Germany, and Spain Case Studies in the World of Labour - Project Report - Financed by Volkswagen Foundation and Anglo-German Foundation Translated by Lisa Grow, Carolyn Moore Erika von Rautenfeld, and Agnieska Zimowska Göttingen – Barcelona – Keele, February 2003 Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter I: Western Europe – Its Transformation into a Region of Immigration ........................................ 4 1. “Migration” and “Migration Policy”: A Limitation and Delimitation of Vague Terms ............................................................ 7 1.1 Migration – a Multifaceted Phenomenon.............................................................. 7 1.2 Migration Policy – a Wide-Ranging Field .......................................................... 13 2. Migration and Migration Policy in West European States: The Process of Alignment............................................................................................ 17 2.1 Case Study “Great Britain” ................................................................................. 21 2.2 Case Study “Germany” ....................................................................................... 28 2.3 Case Study „Spain“............................................................................................. 34 3. Migration and Asylum Policy in the European Integration Process: The Long Road to Amsterdam..................................................................................... 44 4. Conclusion: The Transformation into a Region of Immigration – and even a Move Toward More Open Societies? ........................................................ 50 Chapter II: Multiculturalism or Interculturalism? The Social and Political Situation in Britain, Germany and Spain ....................................................................................... 53 1. Social and Political Constructions: Classifications, Attributes and Self-Assessments.......................................................................................................... 55 1.1 Social Constructions between Everyday Perceptions, Political and Scientific Discourses........................................................................................... 55 1.2 Multiculturality versus Interculturality: Confusion over Terminology in Political and Scientific Debate ........................ 63 2. The legal, Political and Social Position of Immigrants in the Case Study countries .......................................................................................... 66 3. Political Debates and Conflicts at the Millennium: Impressions from Britain, German, and Spain............................................................. 79 3.1 The Political Atmosphere.................................................................................... 80 3.2 Xenophobic Resentments as Reflected in Comparisons of Attitudes in the Different Countries................................................................ 84 3.3 September 11th 2001 – an Aside......................................................................... 86 4. Summary: Internally Open Societies?.......................................................................... 88 Chapter III: Company Case Studies: Structure of the Empirical Investigation ..................................................... 92 1. Initial Questions, Conceptual Structure and Aim of the Case Studies......................... 93 2. Methodological Approach............................................................................................ 99 3. Companies Being Studied: Making Contact, Denials and Access............................. 105 3.1 Survey Company “Michel Motors”................................................................... 107 3.2 Survey Company “AutoCat”............................................................................. 110 3.3 Survey Company “Textil S.A.”......................................................................... 112 3.4 Survey Company “Special Motor Plant” .......................................................... 114 II 4. The Interviewees: The Composition of the Samples ................................................. 116 5. Presentation of the Results and the Process of Evaluation......................................... 123 Chapter IV: Personal Situation of the Industrial Workers............................................ 126 1. The structural Side of Personal Circumstances.......................................................... 126 1.1 Education – Profession – Income: the Social Status of the Interviewees ......... 128 1.2 Social Inequalities Do They Follow Patterns Based on Gender or Migration?............................... 134 2. The “Subjective” Side of Personal Circumstances .................................................... 147 2.1 Social Orientations, Fears and Self-Evaluation................................................. 147 2.2 Experiences of Discrimination Made by Respondents with a Background of Migration in the German case study.............................. 159 3. Taking Stock: Personal Circumstances as Reflected in Structural Inequalities, Experience of Discrimination and the Feeling of Privilege ....................................... 161 Chapter V: Interculturalism and Social Images: Between Individualism and a Sense of Community.................................. 164 1. The Interculturalism of the German, Spanish and British Interviewees .................... 165 2. The Four Types of Attitude towards Immigration and Interculturality ..................... 173 2.1 Type 1: “The Receptive”................................................................................... 174 2.2 Type 2: “The Tolerant Sceptics”....................................................................... 180 2.3 Type 3: “The Intolerant Individualists” ............................................................ 184 2.4 Type 4: “Rigid and Intolerant Individualists”................................................... 187 2.5 Attitude Potential and Types of Attitude amongst Interviewees with a Background of Migration ....................................................................... 191 3. Conceptions of Interculturalism and Political Participation ...................................... 194 3.1 A Comparison of the Conceptions of Interculturalism in the Attitude Types – a Provisional Assessment ............................................ 194 3.2 Interculturalism Conceptions and Political Participation.................................. 199 4. Immigration and Interculturality as Reflected in Group Discussions........................ 203 4.1 Between Liberality and Restriction: Conceptions on the Regulation of Future Migration.............................................................. 203 4.2 The “Multicultural Society:” A Functioning Reality or a Failed Model?......... 211 4.3 Inside the company: About "good colleagues”, "glass ceilings”, and the difficulty of making complaints ........................................................... 220 4.4 Outside the Company: About “Good Friends”, “Cultural Differences”, and Reciprocal “Isolation” ................................................................................ 232 4.5 Who and how are "the others" ? The construction of groups, attributes, and lines of difference......................... 237 4.6 Under the Magnifying Glass: Group Dynamics, Sensitive Issues, and Specific Aspects ................................ 246 5. Conclusions: Interculturality - the "Other" Social Relationship ............................... 249 Chapter VI: The Long Way to an Open Society – a Summary of the Most Important Results ............................................... 254 Annex Bibliography Introduction Migration is an issue that comes up again and again in political disputes in Western European immigration countries and is often the subject of controversy. It is defined as a problem against which society should defend itself. However, migration – according to one conclusion from sociological investigations – may have become a phenomenon which can no longer be guided and controlled effectively by national states. Migration, like goods, services and capi- tal, is subject to the globalisation process. Another complicating factor is that international law regulates – in the meantime even more so than national legislation – who is to be allowed to enter a national territory. Interculturality is, in turn, a topic which is brought into a connection with resentments and conflicts. Cultural differences and cultural distances between immigrant minorities and the majority societies are emphasised and also defined as a problem. The lack of incorporation of individual migrant groups into society, xenophobia and violent clashes seem to support the ideas of cultural distance and the problematic character of intercultural migration societies. Migration and interculturality are topics subject to the ups and downs of scientific and pub- lic discussion and interest. At the turn of the millennium, they have once again become the object of special attention: after a decade-long and sometimes controversial negotiation proc- ess, the European Union member states raised, in the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1999 migration and asylum politics