Encountering Difference: The experience of Nordic Highly Skilled Citizens in India

TY - BOOK

T1 - Encountering Difference

T2 - The experience of Nordic Highly Skilled Citizens in India

AU - Savinetti, Nicol Marie Foulkes

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - The present study is an analysis of Danish and Finnish temporary migrants who travel in conjunction with work for a limited period of time to the growth economy and so-called ‘developing’ country, India. Seen through the lens of privilege, the study investigates how diversely the highly skilled migrants’ social citizenship is affected by the move to the mega-cities Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, which have been recognized as challenging destinations for foreign highly skilled migrant workers. I apply Rainer Bauböck’s (2010) citizenship constellation as a theoretical frame. It does not conform to any specific citizenship typology, but rather allows for consideration of the multidimensional horizontal, vertical and environmental intra- and interactions that take place in the negotiation of social citizenship. The project utilizes a combination of semi-structured interviews, detailed pre- and post-interview questionnaires and participant observation methods, and takes a holistic approach guided by Gadamerian hermeneutics. The main findings are that the Nordic citizens indeed exhibit highly divergent citizenship constellations. In vertical relationships they experience changes to their legislated social rights in their home country diversely, depending on the country of origin, duration of stay and whether they are the employed or accompanying partner among other factors; both the employed partner and the accompanying partner’s reliance on the company for social support increases dramatically, thus redefining Marshall’s (1950) understanding of industrial citizenship; the Nordic migrants are susceptible to framing effects (Chong and Druckman 2007) and also engage in corruption and homogeneous stereotyping to varying degrees when dealing with public institutions and administration in India. In horizontal relationships, the Nordic migrants show diversity in their willingness and ability to mobilize and transform their economic, social, cultural and erotic capital (Bourdieu 1984, Hakim 2010) to facilitate dealing with new and sometimes challenging situations. Furthermore, being in possession of the different forms of capital and privilege is advantageous, disadvantageous and sometimes irrelevant in the migrants’ encounters with difference. In relation to the broader social and physical environment, their constellations diversify with regard to how and how much they use public spaces, their consumption habits and their environmental awareness among other things, seemingly as a consequence of their location specific change in group status (Malloy, Ristikari, Berrios-Candelaria, Lewis, and Agastein 2011), and their (in)ability to categorize themselves and others along multiple dimensions (Rubini and Palmonari 2012).

AB - The present study is an analysis of Danish and Finnish temporary migrants who travel in conjunction with work for a limited period of time to the growth economy and so-called ‘developing’ country, India. Seen through the lens of privilege, the study investigates how diversely the highly skilled migrants’ social citizenship is affected by the move to the mega-cities Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, which have been recognized as challenging destinations for foreign highly skilled migrant workers. I apply Rainer Bauböck’s (2010) citizenship constellation as a theoretical frame. It does not conform to any specific citizenship typology, but rather allows for consideration of the multidimensional horizontal, vertical and environmental intra- and interactions that take place in the negotiation of social citizenship. The project utilizes a combination of semi-structured interviews, detailed pre- and post-interview questionnaires and participant observation methods, and takes a holistic approach guided by Gadamerian hermeneutics. The main findings are that the Nordic citizens indeed exhibit highly divergent citizenship constellations. In vertical relationships they experience changes to their legislated social rights in their home country diversely, depending on the country of origin, duration of stay and whether they are the employed or accompanying partner among other factors; both the employed partner and the accompanying partner’s reliance on the company for social support increases dramatically, thus redefining Marshall’s (1950) understanding of industrial citizenship; the Nordic migrants are susceptible to framing effects (Chong and Druckman 2007) and also engage in corruption and homogeneous stereotyping to varying degrees when dealing with public institutions and administration in India. In horizontal relationships, the Nordic migrants show diversity in their willingness and ability to mobilize and transform their economic, social, cultural and erotic capital (Bourdieu 1984, Hakim 2010) to facilitate dealing with new and sometimes challenging situations. Furthermore, being in possession of the different forms of capital and privilege is advantageous, disadvantageous and sometimes irrelevant in the migrants’ encounters with difference. In relation to the broader social and physical environment, their constellations diversify with regard to how and how much they use public spaces, their consumption habits and their environmental awareness among other things, seemingly as a consequence of their location specific change in group status (Malloy, Ristikari, Berrios-Candelaria, Lewis, and Agastein 2011), and their (in)ability to categorize themselves and others along multiple dimensions (Rubini and Palmonari 2012).

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - difference, social security, Nordic welfare state, privilege, citizenship

M3 - Ph.D. thesis

SN - 9789514498152

T3 - Acta Universitatis Tamperensis

BT - Encountering Difference

PB - Tampere University Press

CY - Tampere, Finland

ER -