The imagination of ‘society’ in measurements of immigrant integration

Abstract

My aim in this contribution is to clarify in which way social scientific measurements of immigrant integration operate as a form of ‘social imagination’, that is, of the routinized and professionalized visualization of social life. Through such measurements, images of ‘society’ are produced that feed into larger social imaginaries. My discussion takes as an example Dutch discourse and research on integration. Crucial to the constitution of society in the Netherlands and many other Western European countries is what I call a culturist discourse that has many similarities to racism. This discourse demarcates the boundaries of society by rendering objectively observable the non-integrated who are considered to reside ‘outside society’. The image of society thereby produced is that of a morally cleansed realm: social problems are relegated to the domain ‘outside society’, consisting of persons in need of integration.     

“Canadian Experience” discourse and anti-racialism in a “post-racial” society

“Canadian Experience” is a paradox for many immigrants in Canada and contributes to their exclusion from the labour market. Through an analysis of Canadian English print media, from 2006 to 2011, we illustrate how “Canadian Experience” discourse places the responsibility of immigrant labour market integration on immigrants themselves and constructs their experiences of exclusion as non-racial. This is theorized as a “post-racial” strategy that relies on anti-racialism (avoidance of racial references) to deny the existence and effects of racism, thereby allowing the Canadian public to maintain its façade of innocence but perpetuates “racism without racists”. The discourse de-historicizes postcolonial racial hierarchy and promotes a de-racialized neo-liberal model for immigrant inclusion. This has implications for anti-racism and settlement service provision.     

Should society allow research ethics boards to be run as for-profit enterprises?

BACKGROUND TO THE DEBATE: An important mechanism for protecting human research participants is the prior approval of a clinical study by a research ethics board, known in the United States as an institutional review board (IRB). Traditionally, IRBs have been run by volunteer committees of scientists and clinicians working in the academic medical centers where the studies they review are being carried out. However, for-profit organizations are increasingly being hired to conduct ethics reviews. Proponents of for-profit IRBs argue that these IRBs are just as capable as academic IRBs at providing high-quality ethics reviews. Critics argue that for-profit IRBs have a conflict of interest because they generate their income from clients who have a direct financial interest in obtaining approval.     

Science and society: applications of behavioural genetics: outpacing the science?

Human behavioural genetics is an established research discipline of the genomic age, and applications for behavioural genetic information are most likely to emerge in areas such as criminal justice, education, employment and insurance. However, behavioural genetic research into personality traits and antisocial behaviour poses several risks; for example, tentative or preliminary research findings might be misused in legal and commercial settings. Scientific caution, public and media education, expert consultation and confidentiality protection are essential for the responsible use of behavioural genetics.     

The society as an ultimate value and the socio‐cosmic configuration*

In modern ideology the individual is felt to be the ultimate value. This feature is documented in two of its long‐lasting developments which lend progressively to disregard society as a coherent whole. First the quest for freedom as stated according to the Human Rights perspective opened by the Enlightenment. Second the Middle Ages’ tendency to relegate society to the “mystical body” of Christ and of king.

Holistic ideologies, in contrast to modern ideology, are summarized in their general socio‐cosmic structure, which shows society as the ultimate value not separated from nature. Anthropology is built upon this contrast between individualistic ideology and the holistic one.     

Colony fusion in a termite: What makes the society "open"?

Summary. Sociobiological theories assume that insect societies are closed, i.e., members always act aggressively toward alien conspecific individuals. However, introduction of non-nestmate workers into a host colony of a lower termite, Reticulitermes speratus revealed various levels of agonism: from genocide to colony fusion. Members of the host colony attacked and killed the intruders having a higher nymph ratio (the number of nymphs/the number of workers) than the host colony had. In contrast, the intruders were accepted if they had a lower nymph ratio than the host colony. Acceptance of a lower-nymph-ratio colony could be beneficial for the host colony because it would gain additional labor force to feed its own nymphs. However, acceptance of a higher-nymph-ratio colony might be disadvantageous because the workers must rear non-relative nymphs additionally. Here we show that termites facultatively change their agonistic response toward non-nestmates according to the cost and benefit of colony fusion. Contrary to the existent concept, we report for the first time that colony fusion is an adaptive tactic in social insects.     

Containing political instability in a poly‐ethnic society: The case of Mauritius

In a continent whose political record has been largely marred by almost three decades of post‐independence political turmoil verging on genocidal proportions, the small state of Mauritius has devised a sociopolitical system that has largely succeeded in containing some of the worst excesses of bloody political confrontation usually associated with poly‐ethnic societies, for example, the Nigerian Civil War of the 1960s; the Tutsi/Hutu conflict in Burundi in 1988–89, and so on. In this article it is argued that Mauritius has devised and maintained a three‐pronged strategy to safeguard political stability, namely: (1) the adoption of constitutional safeguards to accommodate ethnic divisions; (2) a spoils system of (ethnic) parliamentary representation designed to ensure that no section of the population is alienated, thereby respiting in the politicization of ethnic divisions; (3) a ‘national patronage’ system through which massive social welfare spending has been maintained since independence. This has functioned to dampen the possibility of political violence nourished by general poverty and the resultant alienation. Finally, the commitment of the various ruling coalitions to the parliamentary process has had the effect of impelling the major opposition parties to seek to gain power through peaceful constitutional means rather than through violent political confrontation.     

Women’s work,child care,and helpers-at-the-nest in a hunter-gatherer society

Considerable research on helpers-at-the-nest demonstrates the positive effects of firstborn daughters on a mother’s reproductive success and the survival of her children compared with women who have firstborn sons. This research is largely restricted to agricultural settings. In the present study we ask: “Does ‘daughter first’ improve mothers’ reproductive success in a hunting and gathering context?” Through an analysis of 84 postreproductive women in this population we find that the sex of the first- or second-born child has no effect on a mother’s fertility or the survival of her offspring. We conclude that specific environmental and economic factors underlay the helpers-at-the-nest phenomenon.     

Embedding values: how science and society jointly valence a concept—the case of ADHD

Many successful sciences both serve and shape human ends. Conversely, the societies in which these sciences are practiced support the research and provide interpretive context. These mutual influences may result in a positive feedback loop that reinforces constitutive and contextual values, embedding them in scientific concepts: the ADHD concept is a case in point. In an ongoing process, social considerations fuel investigational choices and contexts for evaluating data. Scientific study forwards the feedback loop through the influence of investigative trends, by directly and indirectly embedding values in data interpretation, and by core methodologies that heighten the contrast between ‘ADHD’ and ‘normal’. The resulting scientific conclusions embed value valences in the ADHD concept; social uptake of that valenced concept begins another round of interest in its implications and support of the science. The processes at work in the ADHD case are very general, so we should expect to see similar processes and results in other fields.