Overview
This event will showcase research that examines the factors promoting and inhibiting immigrant senses of belonging and well-being in their receiving societies. Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners will gather to foster cross-sectional communication that identifies ways of bridging theory and practice to apply the research presented in a British societal context.
Time: 11 am-12:30 pm (UK)
This event is hybrid:
- To join in-person: COMPAS Boardroom, 58 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6QS (please note, this building is not wheelchair accessible; seating is limited; parking is unavailable)
- To join online, you must register in advance through this Zoom link: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/H6A3Yx72TXyJk6TFSf6DGw.
Attendance is free, and all are welcome.
About the presentation
The first speaker, Professor Adam Komisarof (Keio University, Japan), will present his research on social markers of acceptance (SMA). SMA are the criteria that members of receiving societies use to determine whether to accept immigrants as members of their community socially. For example, they may expect immigrants to become fluent speakers of the nation’s official language or contribute to the economy by filling labour market needs. SMA can serve as achievable benchmarks that potentially empower immigrants to belong. Alternatively, when SMAs are not fulfilled, they can negatively impact immigrants’ mental well-being (for instance, if immigrants feel a lack of belonging) and/or physical well-being (e.g., if they are denied government welfare).
In his latest study, Komisarof and colleagues examined the impact of SMA on the well-being of immigrants in Australia, Japan, and the US. For example, does the expectation that immigrants learn to speak the nation’s official language promote or inhibit well-being? Komisarof and colleagues differentiate which kinds of expectations are associated with higher life satisfaction and lower stress levels vs. those that tend to be seen by immigrants as exclusionary and associate with negative mental well-being. They also identify new ways to expand the notion of who is considered a member of society, potentially giving more immigrants a sense of belonging.
Dr William Allen (University of Southampton, UK) will also share his research, “Welfare Preferences and Immigrant Labour: The Role of Occupational Essentialness” (co-authors: Jacqueline Broadhead, University of Oxford; Mariña Fernández-Reino, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Denis Kierans, University of Oxford; Isabel Ruiz, University of Oxford; and Madeleine Sumption, University of Oxford). In this paper, they address public opinion about which immigrants should have access to national public welfare systems, and under what conditions. These questions are central to economic and migration policymaking in many receiving countries. Existing evidence identifies a degree of preference for nationals being able to access welfare over migrants (sometimes called ‘welfare chauvinism’), although this varies across groups. By contrast, the authors argue that immigrants’ occupations can matter just as much or even more for these preferences by signalling how essential they are to the core functions of society. The evidence comes from a large-scale three-wave survey experiment fielded in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that there are greater preferences for immigrants working in essential occupations over non-essential ones, as this allows them to access key types of public welfare. While immigrants’ time spent in the country also matters for preferences, occupational essentialness remains salient. Overall, these patterns suggest immigrants’ occupations may be more important for shaping public opinion than previously thought.
Dr Sanne van Oosten (COMPAS, University of Oxford, UK) will be the discussant for the papers, and then all attendees will be welcome to ask further questions in an open format. These comments and questions may include, but are not limited to:
1) What are the implications of these research findings for immigrant settlement policies and practices?
2) How can we utilise these findings to encourage greater inclusiveness and empowerment of immigrants within British society?
3) In light of these findings, how can we provide immigrants with greater support to improve their mental, physical, and economic well-being?
Speakers
Adam Komisarof, PhD, is a Professor in Keio University's Faculty of Letters in Tokyo. He has spent two sabbaticals at the University of Oxford, first as a Visiting Academic at the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies (2012-13), and then at the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) (2022-23). A widely sought public lecturer, Dr. Komisarof has given over 130 invited lectures and paper presentations around the globe. He is the author of over 50 publications and four books about intercultural communication and acculturation, most recently The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Communication (Sage). He is a Fellow and President Emeritus of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, an academic organisation dedicated to advancing research in intercultural studies and intergroup understanding in the world.
William Allen, DPhil, is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on how people engage with information on political and economic issues, notably on migration and via media, and what this means for public opinion and policymaking in Europe and Latin America. He has published work from this agenda in journals including Comparative Political Studies, World Development, and Political Communication, as well as co-edited the 2nd edition of the Handbook of Research Methods in Migration (2024, Edward Elgar). He is a Fellow of the UK Young Academy, the national body for early-career leaders in research and industry, and Deputy Editor of the journal Migration Studies.
Sanne van Oosten, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford, contributing to the EqualStrength consortium at the Centre on Migration, Policy, and Society (COMPAS). She specialises in discrimination, voting and elections, focusing on the impact of anti-Muslim discrimination on politics and society. Her work on these topics has appeared in journals including Electoral Studies, Representation, and Journal of Intercultural Communication. She also regularly provides commentary to leading media outlets such as the BBC, National Public Radio in the US, and The New York Times, as well as strategic advice to political parties, civil society organisations, and governmental agencies.
