The Migratory Process and the Formation of Ethnic Minorities, Essay Example

The Age of Migration provides an overview of today’s forces that drive people away from their homeland. The authors discuss the motivations, benefits, and problems associated with migration. I believe that in today’s globalized world, it is important to understand the social and economic aspects of migration, as well as the trends.

The authors differentiate between two types of migration: economically-motivated, and forced. Economically-motivated migration is one of the most common in America, in my opinion. People from countries where career and economic opportunities are limited go to a country (either America or Western Europe) in the hope of better living conditions, quality of life, and earnings. However, many would assimilate to their new environment and settle down. Interestingly, the authors state that most migration is planned to be non-permanent. A very interesting remark is made by the chapter (Castles and Miller 31) stating that several policymakers think that “migration can be turned on and off like a tap”. This statement brings into mind Great Britain’s proposed policies that are opposed to by the European Union to put a cap on immigration and introduce initial limitations for new arrivals from EU countries. It is clear that before the economic crisis, when Britain needed migrant workers to do low-paying jobs, they were not against migration. However, it cannot be stopped today, without going against the EU policy.

In the case of forced migration, according to Castles and Miller (32), migrating individuals’ first stop is the neighboring country, and they often move on to another country.

Next, Castles and Davidson (106) talk about citizenship, and state that this institution is designed to provide residents of the country with basic human rights. However, it is evident that discrimination and racism can make new migrants feel inferior in their new country, and several of them would move back, as a result. While western countries are continuously working on creating legislation to make hate crime more seriously punishable by law, institutional racism also plays a part in migrants negative experiences. This affects both immigrants who have the right to reside in the country and those who are considered to be “illegal” migrants. As a conclusion, the law should provide immigrants with legal, social, and political rights, but – because of their marginal status – minority groups are often disadvantaged compared with those who were born in the country.

Castles and Davidson describes the process of becoming a citizen as a political cohesion of the individual with the country’s system. There is a difference between legal citizenship and residence that can provide immigrants the right to become citizens. Unlike those born in the country (law of the blood), immigrants need to earn their citizenship in most countries. Neutralization is a process that sets a criteria for immigrants to become citizens of the new country. The most important criteria is a certain time spent in the host country as a resident without gaps. Immigrants can choose to apply for single citizenship and lose their original one, or have a dual citizenship. In the case of second and third generation immigrants, in many countries, the law of the land (ius soli) makes them citizens automatically, if at least one of the parents is a legal resident.

I believe that understanding migration and policies is important in order to better deal with the challenges of globalization most Western countries face.

Works Cited

Castles, Stephen and Miller, Mark “The Migratory Process and the Formation of Ethnic Minorities” In: The Age of Migration. 2003. Print.

Castles, Stephen and Davidson, Alistair. (eds.) “Citizenship and Migration: Globalization and the Politics of Belonging” 2000. Print.