Suchergebnisse

The position of immigrant workers in the Belgian labor market & social security system is examined, based on statistical evidence. Total employment of immigrants has more than doubled, from 114,000 in 1954 to 245,900 in 1978. The proportion employed in industry has remained stable, while that in mining has declined & that in the tertiary sector has greatly expanded. The immigrants' young family structure is reflected in their relatively high share of family allowances & low demand on pension funds. Although there is no evidence of discrimination in the social security system, the immigrants' labor market position is unstable, especially for those who are not citizens of European Economic Community countries, which affects their social security rights; it is therefore suggested that immigrants be granted full citizenship after five years' residence in Belgium. 4 Tables, 2 Figures. Modified HA

Social mechanisms that have generated the social construction of threatening immigrants in Europe are described, focusing on the situation in Flanders, Belgium, using Pierre Bourdieu's (eg, 1985 [see abstract 86Q6505]) semiotic-praxiological theory of the construction of social space & the genesis of social groups as a theoretical framework. Similarities between historical & socioeconomic conditions in the 1930s & 1980s are related to the repeated emergence of the theme of the "migrant problem" in political discourse; at the end of the 1930s, it referred exclusively to the Jews who had migrated from Eastern Europe & Germany, whereas in the 1980s, it was used for Muslim (Turkish & Moroccan) guest workers hired in the 1970s. It is argued that, in both cases, the discourse of the threatening immigrant attempts to redraw the social space by targeting the economic, & hence, the cultural & social, capital of the target groups. Socioeconomic change is used to legitimize anti-Judaism/-Islamism, resulting in a (cultural) racism that fuels ethnonationalism. 35 References. Adapted from the source document.