DISEÑO DE ESTRUCTURAS DE DRENAJE LONGITUDINAL: CUNETAS

REVIEWED

In the past twenty years or so there have been three types of immigration policies common to North America, Western Europe, and Australia, as described by Stephen Castles and Mark Miller in their book The Age of Migration.112 _{These policies are}

differential exclusion, assimilationism, and multiculturalism.113

As used in the following discussion, the term “integration” means “the bringing of people of different racial or ethnic groups into unrestricted and equal association, as in

112 _{Stephen Castles is Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies and Director of the Refugee Studies} Center at the University of Oxford, U.K. Mark Miller is Emma Smith Morris Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware.

society or an organization; desegregation.”114 _{Segregation inhibits integration both}

formally and informally. For instance, segregation can be state sanctioned as in the formal apartheid laws of South Africa prior to 1990 or it can be socially enforced or de facto as in the separation of blacks and whites in the southern United States in the early twentieth century. The term “assimilation” means “the process whereby a minority group gradually adopts the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture.”115 _Sociologist

Milton M. Gordon describes it as a seven-stage process, starting with the adoption of “the language, dress, and other daily customs of the host society,” moving on to the “large- scale entrance of minorities into the cliques, clubs, and institutions of the host society,” and finally resulting in things like “frequent intermarriage” and the disappearance of prejudice, discrimination, and civic conflicts.116

The two terms describe stages in a process. First, a person is integrated into the society—no longer separate from the rest of society—and then a person is assimilated— fully a part of the society, both legally (a citizen with full rights under the law) and socially. They are truly accepted as equals by all.

The first policy, policy of differential exclusion, means that the state never intends for the migrants to immigrate permanently, i.e., the migrants are simply guest workers. This policy was adopted by Germany up until the year 2000.117 _{Under this system, an}

immigrant is excluded from “citizenship and from the community” and is only a temporary guest worker who will, in theory, eventually return to his or her nation of origin.118 _{This type of immigration policy has essentially been abandoned.}

114 _{“Integration,” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. (Boston:} Houhgton Mifflin, 2000), at Answers.com, GuruNet Corp, http://www.answers.com/integration (accessed December 2006).

115 _{“Assimilation,” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. (Boston:} Houhgton Mifflin, 2000), at Answers.com, GuruNet Corp, http://www.answers.com/assimilation (accessed December 2006).

116 _{Milton M. Gordon, Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National}

Origins (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), in Encyclopedia of American History, at Answers.com, http://www.answers.com/assimilation (accessed December 2006).

117 _{Castles and Miller, The Age of Migration, 44, 249.} 118 _{Ibid., 44.}

Under a policy of assimilationism, immigrants must become “culturally and socially absorbed, … indistinguishable from the existing population.”119 _Newcomers

may be admitted into the community provided “they adhere to the political rules and are willing to adopt the national culture.”120 _{The French are the strongest advocates of this}

policy, as to a lesser extent are the Americans.

Multiculturalism, on the other hand, is a system where newcomers are admitted and allowed to “maintain cultural difference and form ethnic communities providing they adhere to the political rules.”121 _{Multiculturalism is probably the most common}

immigration policy. It is the policy in countries like the U.K., Australia, and Sweden where “immigrants are not forced to conform to a dominant cultural or linguistic model but instead can maintain their native languages and cultural life if they choose to do so.”122 _{The idea behind multiculturalism is that “the diversity produced by immigration}

is seen as an enrichment rather than as a threat to the predominant culture.”123

Multiculturalism gives the immigrants freedom of choice, a founding principle of

democracy. The expectation under this policy is that in time “most immigrants and their offspring will reconcile their cultural heritage with the prevailing culture, and the latter will be somewhat altered, and most likely richer, for that.”124 _{This expectation is not}

always fulfilled, however, and multiculturalism can lead to discrimination and

disadvantage. For instance, immigrants to Britain who choose not to learn English “can find themselves disadvantaged in the labour market.” Also, evidence suggests that the “maintenance of some cultural norms may be a form of discriminatory social control.”125

Proponents of assimilationism argue that enrichment of the prevailing culture and celebration of diversity is not necessary and the eventual reconciliation of cultures does not occur fast enough. They point out that the dominant ethnic group often does not want

119 _{Castles and Miller, The Age of Migration, 212.} 120 _{Ibid., 44.} 121 _Ibid. 122 _{Ibid., 281.} 123 _Ibid. 124 _Ibid. 125 _Ibid.

its culture threatened by potentially competing cultures.126 _{On the other hand, loss of}

one’s cultural heritage may lead to resentment and anger on the side of the immigrant community. The current, heated headscarf debate in France is an example where government policy not to allow Muslim women students to wear headscarves in state schools has caused a furor among Muslims.