Migrants In Germany Research Articles

The Leviathan of Competitiveness: How and why do liberal states (not) accept unwanted immigration?

The article deals with issues of migration and migrant rights in Germany. Even if many scholars have elucidated with convincing clarity that Western nation-states can improve migrants' rights due to the autonomy of the legal system, this paper's focus is to point out the vulnerability of that legal process. The political and judicial regulation of migration in Germany over the last forty years shows that the discretionary power of the authorities regarding non-nationals is much stronger than for nationals. And because of the transformation of the former welfare states into 'competition states', migration policies are now likely to be subsumed under the principle of competitive advantage. In this study I reaffirm that the judicial improvement of migrant rights should be primarily understood in terms of the nation-state, and refer to general political and economic conditions that the courts can not (or will not) disregard in their decision-making process.

The meaning of the family: lived experiences of Turkish women immigrants in Germany.

The basic premise underpinning this research is that the family plays a key role in understanding and providing adequate nursing care for an ill member. To understand the family, the view on what members are as a family and what meanings are attributed to their various roles is of central importance for nurses. Since Turkish Muslim families who live as migrants in Germany differ considerably in their own understanding of themselves in their German environment, qualitative research, based on Spradley's developmental research sequence method, was conducted with nine Turkish women in order to learn about the meaning of family for them.

What Makes an Entrepreneur and Does it Pay? Native Men, Turks, and Other Migrants in Germany

This paper focuses on the entrepreneurial endeavors of immigrants and natives in Germany. We pay closer attention to Turks, since they are the largest immigrant group with a strong entrepreneurial tradition, and the self-employed Turks in Germany represent about 70% of all Turkish entrepreneurs in the European Union. We identify the characteristics of the self-employed individuals and understand their underlying drive into self-employment. At the same time we investigate how immigrant entrepreneurs fare in the labor market compared to natives. Employing data from the German Socioeconomic Panel 2000 release we find that the probability of self-employment increases significantly with age for all groups albeit at a decreasing rate. Among immigrants, Turks are twice as likely to choose self-employment as any other immigrant group. The age-earnings profiles of self-employed German and immigrant men are concave and surprisingly similarly shaped. While for self-employed German men hours of work and Treiman prestige scale scores increase their earnings, for self-employed immigrant men it is the longevity of the business that makes a difference. Everything else equal, the earnings of self-employed Turks are no different than the earnings of the self-employed Greeks, Italians, Spaniards, ex-Yugoslavs, Polish or other East Europeans, including those immigrants who have become German citizens.

Acculturation and cardiovascular reactivity of second-generation Turkish migrants in Germany

Objective: Previous studies have shown that migration and acculturation lead to higher blood pressures and a higher prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. Heightened cardiovascular reactivity is considered as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to examine cardiovascular reactivity in young and healthy second-generation Turkish migrants to Germany. Method: Forty-one Turkish and 20 German male students worked on a mental arithmetic task for 6 min and underwent the cold pressor test for 90 s. Heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were taken in intervals of 2 min at baseline and during task periods. Stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), preejection period (PEP), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were registered continuously by impedance cardiography. The Turkish volunteers were divided into weak and advanced acculturated migrants based on self-ratings given in a questionnaire. Results: Advanced acculturated Turkish students showed greater HR and CO increases and greater PEP and TPR decreases to the mental arithmetic task than Germans or weak acculturated Turkish students. No group differences were found for the cold pressor test. Conclusion: Migrants' acculturation is associated with an enhanced β-adrenergic activation pattern of the sympathetic nervous system that might put them at greater risk with regards to essential hypertension and coronary heart disease.

How different are the determinants of population versus labour migration in Germany?

This paper studies whether population migration data can be used to answer questions on labour mobility between regions. Using regional data of the Statistisches Bundesamt for population and labour migration, panel data estimations are conducted for the period 1993–1995, as the high average migratory flows of the earlier period, 1989–1992, had settled down. The conclusion emerges that if normalized population and labour migration data are used, the discrepancy in the results is small and this study's results on elasticity coefficients for identical models in each of the cases by and large produce similar results. The major difference emerges with the elasticity coefficient of the housing variable. In general, one may conclude that population migration may be used to examine labour migration issues.

A modern Kaspar Hauser

The case of a mentally disturbed young man is described, whose identity could not be revealed over more than four months. It is compared to Kaspar Hauser, similarities and differences are highlighted. The "Kaspar Hauser of Stuttgart" is retrospectively revealed as a young man with experiences of severe deprivation. The missing case history and independent history were an obstacle in the treatment, albeit not fundamental, advantages being reached with a relation-oriented approach. Informations obtained after clarification of the identity of the young man suggest a multiplication of unfavourable circumstances, leading to sub-optimal treatment and finally the "Kaspar-Hauser-Situation". Contributing were his belonging to the less integrated group of migrants in Germany, as well as severe deprivation in the family and a generally sub-optimal treatment of mentally disturbed young patients.

Accessibility of drug treatment institutions for migrants in Germany

Accessibility of drug treatment institutions for migrants in Germany

Towards a Model of Quality of Life for Older Ethnic Minority Migrants in Germany, Austria and the UK

This paper addresses the relationship between models of quality of life and Europe's increasingly diverse older population. European social policy on old age is responding only slowly to the presence of older ethnic minority migrants. People who migrated primarily for economic reasons, and who may never have intended to stay in the host country, are now approaching retirement age and faced with crucial issues of how to manage old age in a foreign country. In view of a growing policy interest in extending the quality of life of Europe's older population, the paper examines current approaches to measuring quality of life. It is argued that existing models are not suited to addressing the particular circumstances of older ethnic minority migrants, as they omit crucial aspects related to migration and their impact on key life domains. The outline of a model will be constructed which takes account of these issues and may thus serve as a basis for a more informed discussion.

Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany, 1820-1989

Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany, 1820-1989

How useful is a name-based algorithm in health research among Turkish migrants in Germany?

Migrants often face particular social, economic and health disadvantages relative to the population of the host country. In order to adapt health services to the needs of migrants, health researchers need to identify differences in risk factor and disease profiles, as well as inequalities concerning treatment and prevention. Registries of health-related events could be employed for these purposes. In Germany, however, routine data bases often hold no, or inaccurate, information on the national origin of the cases registered. We developed an algorithm based on a large data set of Turkish family and first names (n=15 000), with religion as additional criterion, to identify cases of Turkish origin in registries in a largely automatic search. We tested the performance of the algorithm in a population registry and in a cancer registry. The algorithm discriminates well against Greek and Arab names, with 1% false positive matches in our study. It achieves a specificity of > 99.9% in delimiting Turkish from German cases in the cancer registry. The sensitivity can be increased to 85%, provided the small proportion of case records with uncertain origin can be assessed manually. The name algorithm can be useful for registry-based health research among Turkish migrants in Germany. Possible applications are e.g. in cancer registries to compare survival among German and Turkish cancer patients, or in health insurance registries to compare the relative importance of work-related degenerative diseases. In specific circumstances, the algorithm may also be useful in aetiological research.

Schizophrenic Disorders among Turkish Migrants in Germany

Several studies have implied cultural differences in the psychopathology of schizophrenia between migrants and natives. In a diagnostically strictly controlled study, including comparison of diagnosis with a Turkish-speaking psychiatrist, 74 patients of Turkish and 48 of German origin, all with a diagnosis of schizophrenic disorder, were compared using PANSS and HAM-D. The Turkish sample showed higher depression and hostile excitement, even in the subsample of those with paranoid schizophrenia, and no differences in positive, negative or cognitive symptoms. The similarities especially concerning core symptoms reflect evidence from cross-cultural studies on schizophrenia. In conclusion this study shows main differences in psychopathology between psychotic migrants and natives, as discussed in the literature, may be mainly due to diagnostic differences.

Book Reviews

Peter Gay, My German Question: Growing Up in Nazi Berlin (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998)Review by Charles S. MaierJan-Werner Müller, Another Country: German Intellectuals, Unification and National Identity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000)Review by A. Dirk MosesMargaret Lavinia Anderson, Practicing Democracy: Elections and Political Culture in Imperial Germany (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000)Review by Sheri BermanJ.H. Brinks, Children of a New Fatherland; Germany’s Post-War Right-Wing Politics, trans. Paul Vincent (London/New York: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2000)Review by Elliot NeamanStephen Padgett, Organizing democracy in eastern Germany: Interest groups in post-communist society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)Review by John BradyAlan D. Schrift, ed., Why Nietzsche Still? Reflections on Drama, Culture, and Politics (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000)Review by Silke-Maria WeineckSteve Hochstadt, Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany 1820–1989 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999)Review by William H. HubbardAngelika Timm, Jewish Claims Against East Germany: Moral Obligations and Pragmatic Polic y(Budapest: Central European University Press, 1997)Review by Belinda Cooper

First- and Second-Generation Migrants in Germany - What Do We Know and What Do People Think?

This paper provides a snapshot of the stock of immigrants in Germany using the 1995 wave of the Mikrozensus, with a particular emphasis on distinguishing first- and second- generation migrants. On the basis of this portrait, we draw attention to the empirically most relevant groups of immigrants and review the received literature on economic migration research in the three principal avenues of migration research. The aspect which we concentrate on in our empirical application, the welfare dependence of immigrants, is a matter of intense debate among economists and policy makers. We contrast the very moderate actual public transfer payment dependence of migrants to Germany with the perception of migrants dependence on public assistance by Germans from various population strata.

Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany, 1820-1989

Mobility and Modernity uses voluminous German data on migrations over the past two centuries to demonstrate why conventional assumptions about the relationship between mobility and modernity must be revised.Thus far the changing total volume of migration has not been traced over a long period for any country. Unique migration registration statistics, both detailed and broadly geographical in coverage, allow the precise plotting of migration rates in Germany since 1820. Steve Hochstadt combines careful quantitative methods, easily understood numerical data, and social analysis based upon broad reading in German social history to show that current beliefs about the direction and timing of changes in German mobility, which have been based on late nineteenth-century anxieties about urbanization and industrialization, do not match the data.Migration rates in Germany rose continuously throughout the nineteenth century, and have fallen during the twentieth century. Mobility, Hochstadt argues, was not an unprecedented accompaniment to industrialization, but a traditional rural response to specific economic changes. Hochstadt's more precise analysis of urban in- and outmigration shows the mechanism of urbanization to have been the migration of families rather than the much greater, but also more circular, migration of single men and women.Hochstadt demonstrates the importance of examining historical behavior, powerfully justifying the methods of historical demography as a path to social understanding. The data and specific conclusions are German, but the methods and reinterpretaion of migration history have much wider application, both to other modern European nations and to currently developing countries. Those who study the modern social history of Europe, the mechanisms that formed urban working classes, and the methods of historical demography will be interested in Hochstadt's work.Steven Hochstadt was awarded the Social Science History Association's Allan Sharlin Memorial Award in 2000 for Mobility and Modernity. He is Associate Professor of History, Bates College.

Book Review: Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany, 1820-1989

Book Review: Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany, 1820-1989

Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany, 1820–1989. By Steve Hochstadt (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1999) 331 pp. $52.50 Guests and Aliens. By Saskia Sassen (New York, New Press, 1999) 202 pp. $25.00

Mobility and Modernity: Migration in Germany, 1820–1989. By Steve Hochstadt (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 1999) 331 pp. $52.50 Guests and Aliens. By Saskia Sassen (New York, New Press, 1999) 202 pp. $25.00

Discussion: Income Security of Elderly Migrants in Germany

Die Zuwanderer, die während des wirtschaftlichen Aufschwungs nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg nach Mittel-Europa kamen, erreichen nun das Rentenalter. Im Gegensatz zu den ursprünglichen Erwartungen sind viele von ihnen geblieben und in dem Land, in das sie einwanderten, alt geworden. Die ökonomische Lage dieser alternden Zuwanderer stellt eine große Herausforderung für viele Länder der EU im 21. Jahrhundert dar. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Einkommen älterer Zuwanderer in Deutschland und vergleicht deren ökonomische Situation mit der der einheimischen Bevölkerung. Ein erster Blick auf den Wohlfahrtstatus von Zuwanderern im Ruhestand lässt erste Anzeichen von Probleme erkennen, die sich im 21. Jahrhundert ausweiten könnten. Die Analyse zeigt, dass das Einkommen von Zuwanderern im Alter von 50 Jahren und höher 25 bis 30 Prozent unter dem der einheimischen Bevölkerung in dieser Altersgruppe liegt. In Haushalten mit 50 bis 59 jährigem Haushaltsvorstand ist das niedrigere Einkommen in erster Linie auf geringere Einkünfte aus Erwerbsarbeit zurückzuführen, während die Einkommensunterschiede bei Haushalten, deren Haushaltsvorstand 60 Jahre und älter ist, den geringeren Einkünften aus Renten/Pensionen zuzuschreiben sind. Ursachen für die niedrigeren Einkünfte von Zuwanderern sind unterschiedliche Erwerbsverläufe und Erwerbsmuster sowie niedrigere Stundenlöhne. Zusätzliche Analysen sind notwendig, um die Ursachen für die Einkommensunterschiede zwischen Deutschen und Zuwanderern näher zu untersuchen und herauszufinden, ob diese Unterschiede weiter bestehen bleiben. Schließlich wäre zu untersuchen, ob die Erfahrungen von Zuwanderern in Deutschland denen von Zuwanderern in anderen europäischen Ländern gleichen.

Mobility and modernity: migration in Germany, 1820-1989

Mobility and modernity: migration in Germany, 1820-1989

HOCHSTADT, STEVE. Mobility and Modernity. Migration in Germany 1820–1989. [Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany.] The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1999. 400 pp. Maps. $52.50. JACKSON, JAMES H., Jr. Migration and Urbanization in the Ruhr Valley 1821–1914. [Studies in Central European Histories.] Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands (NJ) 1997. xix, 452 pp. Ill. Maps. $85.00.

HOCHSTADT, STEVE. Mobility and Modernity. Migration in Germany 1820–1989. [Social History, Popular Culture, and Politics in Germany.] The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1999. 400 pp. Maps. 85.00. - Volume 44 Issue 2

Semiparametric analysis of German East-West migration intentions: facts and theory

East–West migration in Germany peaked at the beginning of the 1990s although the average wage gap between Eastern and Western Germany continues to average about 25%. We analyse the propensity to migrate using microdata from the German Socioeconomic Panel. Fitting a parametric Generalized Linear Model (GLM) yields non-linear residual behavior. This finding is not compatible with classical Marshallian theory of migration and motivates the semiparametric analysis. We estimate a Generalized Partial Linear Model (GPLM) where some components of the index of explanatory variables enter non-parametrically. We find the estimate of the non-parametric influence in concordance with a number of alternative migration theories, including the recently proposed option-value-of-waiting theory. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.