Multiculturalism, Capability and Human Development: the Canadian Immigration Experience'

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Multiculturalism, Capability and Human
Development the Canadian Immigration Experience.

• Susan Hodgett Ph.D. School of Sociology and
  Applied Social Studies and the Social and Policy
  Research Institute (University of Ulster)
• and
• David A. Clark Ph.D. Global Poverty Research
  Group
• (Universities of Manchester and Oxford)

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Contribution over two papers

• To develop a framework and methodology for
  investigating human values and social integration
  in multicultural contexts.
• To build on the theoretical foundations of Sens
  capability approach by drawing on insights from
  the livelihoods approach and chronic poverty
  literature.
• To identify human values in a multicultural
  setting the instrumental /constitutive freedoms
  ordinary people have reason to value.
• To engage with Sens work on culture and
  identity.
• To use the capability approach to illuminate
  aspects of multicultural policy in a First World
  country.
• This research is supported by Foreign Affairs
  International Trade Canada and The Foundation for
  Canadian Studies in the UK.

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The Means

• To augment the capability approach and human
  development paradigm with insights from the
  livelihoods approach.
• To analyse the dynamics of poverty.
• To investigate human values, the role of culture
  and identity and how these relate to, and
  interact with, other factors in shaping
  livelihoods and well-being among different groups
  of migrants in Canada.
• To draw upon the values and experiences of
  immigrants and explore whether Canadian
  multicultural policy has enabled migrants to
  achieve the kind of life they have reason to
  value.

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Capabilities

• Capability approach (CA) to human well-being and
  development was pioneered by Nobel winning
  Economist and Philosopher Amartya Sen. It is
  concerned with ensuring that different people,
  cultures and societies can enjoy the capability
  (or freedom) to lead the kind of life that they
  have reason to value.
• While income and material things might be
  necessary to facilitate a good form of life, the
  CA recognises that it does not automatically
  follow that there will be a strong link between
  income and access to resources and the ability to
  achieve valuable capabilities.
• The CA places people at the centre of the
  development process
• People are regarded as the primary ends as well
  as the principal means of development.
• In particular the CA recognises that well-being
  is multidimensional and embraces the full range
  of doings and beings that contribute to a
  good form of life.

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Capabilities and Impact

• CA has spawned a literature in development,
  social science and moral philosophy.
• Fits with multiculturalism for it sees people
  (not production) as the primary agent of economic
  and social analysis.
• Judges success as what people can or cannot do
  (Sen, 1983 754).
• It is a flexible approach and can be applied in
  different ways. For example, it can be used
  alongside participatory tools and methods to
  empower marginalised groups and cultures and
  generate bottom up views of poverty and
  well-being.

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Capabilities and Culture

• Sen has been working in the area of culture and
  identity.
• He considers important
• Public reasoning
• Deliberative Democracy
• In forming social values
• Involving ethics borrowed from cultural values-
  which beg further study.
• That all values should contribute positively to
  social and economic progress.
• He promotes the importance of democracy and of
  reason as well as toleration or reason before
  identity.

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Livelihoods

• The livelihoods approach focuses on people as the
  primary agents for tackling poverty.
• Views people as vulnerable and draws attention to
  the resources (assets) they can mobilise, the
  risk factors that influence their ability to
  manage resources and the institutional and policy
  context that either helps or hinders their
  capacity to make a living.
• The chronic poverty literature investigates the
  factors that (i) trap people in persistent
  poverty (ii) allow people to move in and out of
  poverty over time or (iii) enables people to
  escape poverty.

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The Questionnaire

• Part One
• Used open-ended questions that asked respondents
  to identify aspects of life. A good life,
  anticipated dimensions of life in Canada before
  arrival, positive and negative aspects of life in
  Canada, satisfaction with life, needs and goals
  (both over time).
• Interviewers were instructed not to suggest
  possible answers.
• Part Two
• Respondents asked questions about more specific
  aspects of life, such as housing, education,
  jobs, health, self worth/ respect, trust,
  friendship/community life and happiness which
  were pre-defined.
• Part Three
• Collected background information regarding
  personal circumstances and living conditions.

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The Benefits of this Approach

• Allows researchers to avoid influencing initial
  responses (by asking purely open-ended questions
  at the start).
• Picks up on issues respondents may have neglected
  AND looks for consensus (by requesting an
  assessment of pre-defined aspects of life).
• Test for inconsistencies (by comparing the
  answers to open and pre-defined questions) that
  might reflect preferences which are ill-informed
  or have adapted to personal circumstances.

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Initial Research Goals in Canada

• To identify and explore cultural values,
  expectations and experience of social
  integration among different groups of Canadian
  immigrants.
• To investigate how cultural values relate to and
  interact with livelihoods and well-being.
• To consider the extent to which multicultural
  policy (and policy in general) has enabled
  migrants to integrate successfully into Canadian
  society.
• To compare and contrast the views of different
  groups of Canadian immigrants with the
  perceptions of immigrant needs and policy
  effectiveness of the establishment and other
  stakeholders.

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Research Questions and Methodology in Canada

• Twelve qualitative interviews among three groups
  of migrants.
• Open-ended questions were designed to explore
• Abstract perceptions of human well-being i.e. a
  good (ideal) form of life.
• Perceptions of well-being (life) in Canada prior
  to arrival.
• Actual perceptions of well-being (life) in
  Canada.
• Short/ mediate term goals and objectives
  (priorities, needs).
• The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
  threats that shape livelihoods and well-being
  (SWOT analysis).
• The impact of multicultural policy in particular,
  and other types of policy in general, on the
  livelihoods and well-being of Canadian immigrants.

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Fieldwork

• Not possible to administer a sample survey
  instead we relied on a small number of
  qualitative interviews. Our research was
  constrained by lack of time and resource.
• Selection was of specific groups of migrants
  (e.g. on grounds they had differing cultural
  backgrounds and arrival dates in Canada).
  Respondents were found through a process of
  self-selection facilitated through contact in a
  local housing co-operative.
• Three distinct groups were surveyed (Western
  European, Eastern European and African) in order
  to generate interesting comparisons.

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Characteristics of Respondents
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Analysis of Results- ongoing

• Breakdown results by selection criteria in order
  to
• (a) illustrate diversity of multicultural values
  and
• (b) the factors that foster/impede the pursuit of
  multiculturalism and successful social
  integration among different groups.
• Draw out the implications of the fieldwork
  results for multicultural policy on the one hand
  and other (non-multicultural) policy on the
  other.
• Reference findings to the most recent theories of
  Amartya Sen on culture and identity, Reason
  before Identity, Other People and The
  Argumentative Indian?

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Factors that foster/impede the pursuit of
multiculturalism and successful social
integration among different groups.

• Perceptions of life before coming to Canada
• Actual perceptions of life in Canada
• Questions formulated around human well- being
• A set of questions on the positive and negative
  aspects of life relating to the respondent (his
  or herself), the community and the country as a
  whole.

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Integration and Cohesion?

• Questions revealed much about the potential for
  the cultural integration of different ethnic
  groups, social cohesion and social harmony.
• The greater the overlap between responses to the
  three sets of questions (abstract cultural
  values, perceptions of life before arrival and
  perceptions of the actual quality of life), the
  easier it is likely to be to adjust to life in a
  new country or cultural setting.

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Values, Expectations and Actual Experience
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What we can tell

• This approach helps identify areas of divergence
  and convergence in both values and the (actual)
  quality of life among ethnic groups.
• It highlights similarities and differences in
  cultural values and social and economic
  circumstances
• It notes problem areas (for example ethnic
  tensions, social injustice or disadvantage).
• And notes too opportunities for building bridges
  between cultural groups.

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Very Initial Fieldwork Findings..

• Negatives
• Shared concerns across all groups with systemic
  problems in jobs /employment including lack of
  recognition of qualifications/ skills/
  experience.
• Concerns over disparities between migrants and
  those born in Canada regarding career
  success/income/self worth.
• Shared understanding and difficulties in building
  new social networks.
• The enormous challenges individuals and families
  face on deciding to move countries and cultures.

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Very Initial Fieldwork Findings..

• Positives
• There are many similarities (as well as
  differences) in values across cultural groups.
  For example, the Africans and the Eastern
  Europeans value peace, democracy and individual
  autonomy. The Western Europeans and the Africans
  value education and community life. This shared
  consensus points the way towards potential
  opportunities for cross cultural bridge building.

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Some considerations

• The fieldwork identified distinct ethnic groups,
  but did not follow standard ethnographic
  techniques by holding other things equal across
  cultural groups (such as gender, age and personal
  circumstances). This means that, strictly
  speaking, it is not possible to say whether
  differences in responses across groups reflect
  cultural issues or some other factor.
• However, it does shed light on how the
  methodology might be developed and applied in
  future.

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Still to do

• An analysis of the fieldwork and methodology.
• Extraction of qualitative data.
• Analysis of experience of different cultural
  groups.
• The different values of different groups and
  their view of a good form of life.
• Compare perceptions of life in Canada before
  arrival.
• Compare perceptions of actual life experience in
  Canada.
• SWOT analysis of well-being in Canada -in a
  multicultural context.
• Insights for multicultural policy and cultural
  integration in Canada that adds to existing
  debates.