Justice for Migrant

Social Justice

Social justice is the fair and equitable distribution of resources, opportunities, and privileges within a society. It involves recognizing and addressing inequalities and injustices that exist in areas such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and other forms of discrimination. The goal of social justice is to create a society in which all individuals have equal access to resources and opportunities and are treated with dignity and respect. Social justice also involves advocating for policies and practices that promote equality and fairness for all members of society.

Social Injustice

Social injustice refers to situations where there is unfairness and inequality in the distribution of resources, opportunities, and privileges within a society. This can occur when certain groups or individuals are discriminated against based on their race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, or other factors. Social injustice can manifest in various ways, such as limited access to education, healthcare, and employment, unequal pay and treatment in the workplace, and unequal treatment under the law. Social injustice often results in significant disparities in outcomes, such as poverty, poor health, and limited social mobility, among affected individuals or groups.

Justice to migrant

Justice for migrants involves ensuring that individuals who have migrated from one country to another are treated fairly and equitably. This includes protecting the human rights of migrants, such as access to education, healthcare, and employment, as well as ensuring that they are not subject to discrimination or abuse.

for migrants also involves providing avenues for legal migration and asylum, as well as fair and efficient processes for the regularization of undocumented migrants. It includes addressing the root causes of migration, such as poverty, conflict, and environmental degradation, and working towards long-term solutions that address these underlying issues.

Additionally, justice for migrants requires collaboration between countries and international organizations to address migration-related issues, such as human trafficking and smuggling, and to promote cooperation in managing migration flows. It involves recognizing and valuing the contributions that migrants make to society and providing them with opportunities to participate fully in their new communities.

Social Justice to migrant

Using the log-transformed discrimination experiences variable as a predictor in further studies, the pattern of results remained unchanged, even after controlling for other factors. We did further exploratory analyses using generation as a grouping factor because it has been shown that generation is a critical component when examining discriminatory experiences and their effects (Dimitrova et al., 2017). Our sample consisted of almost entirely second-generation students (64%), followed by first-generation students (21%), and third-generation students (14%). Descriptively, we discovered that the favorable association between discrimination experiences and intrinsic motivation was limited to first-generation adolescents, was not evident in second-generation youth, and was even negative in third-generation children. (though the relations did not differ significantly). Findings on bullying victimization among first and especially second-generation kids are consistent with those in the literature (Stevens et al., 2020).

Perceived greater Islamophobia in society than those without a'migrant background,' whereas third-generation Muslims did not. When we divided the sample by socioeconomic categories beyond only "migrant background," we expected to uncover distinct associations across variables, but we only found little support for this hypothesis.

We did find one significant difference, however: Muslim students in Germany not only reported higher levels of Islamophobia but also reported that it had a negative impact on their motivation to learn. This is a significant discovery considering the pervasiveness of anti-Muslim feeling in Germany (and continental Europe more generally; Kunst et al., 2013). However, our findings suggest that common mechanisms underlie a wide variety of social classifications. While it might be damaging to assume social groupings are homogenous (and hence subsume them under an overarching term like "migrant background"), it can be beneficial to meaningfully explore how and when experiences are similar in order to develop solidarity and shed light on commonalities.

It came as a surprise to learn that experiencing discrimination really increases one's level of intrinsic motivation. By way of illustration, we propose that first-generation migrants, in contrast to their second- and third-generation contemporaries, may be less affected by marginalization because they are prepared for it. This research supports the so-called immigrant paradox, which states that despite typically worse economic conditions, first-generation adolescents adjust better than their classmates who have never immigrated (for a review, see Dimitrova et al., 2017). However, there are particular context characteristics under which this phenomena is more likely to occur, such as cultural diversity in the area, length of residency, and reunification of immigrant families. (Dimitrova et al., 2016).

In continental European educational research, the concept of "migrant background" is frequently employed, yet it has been challenged for being an assigned, wide category that reinforces unfairness.

In response to this criticism, we argued that social categories employed in quantitative studies of education should be appropriate in terms of theory, culture, and study participants, should be chosen with social justice in mind, and should be usable in practice. In a preregistered analytical example on the effects of discrimination, perceived societal Islamophobia, and national identity on the academic motivation of secondary school students in Germany, we used these criteria to select meaningful social categories (i.e., family heritage, religion, citizenship, cultural identification, and generational status).

What did we gain by going beyond ‘migrant background’?

Unfortunately, the analytic example we used to test our social categories and assumptions did not provide the robust empirical support we had hoped for. Our descriptive analyses gained greater significance because they revealed heterogeneity among adolescents with a'migrant background' with respect to family heritage, religion, citizenship, cultural identification, and generational status after we expanded our selection of social categories beyond'migrant background' in the current study. The different waves of immigration to Germany in recent decades can be seen in this variation. (Schneider, 2018; Will, 2019). A recent refugee from war-torn Syria would be lumped in with the grandchild of guest workers from Italy or Turkey in the 1960s, the child of Polish parents who moved after the opening of national borders in the European Union, and the grandchild of a guest worker from the 1960s. Empirical researchers in the fields of education and psychology want to stress the significance of separating apart young people's "migrant background" since failing to do so can have the unintended consequence of perpetuating the very inequalities they study. (Moffitt &Juang, 2019; Jugert et al., 2021).

The term "migrant background" has been criticized since it is too all-encompassing and so fails to distinguish between discrimination based on phenotypical traits or (obvious) ethnic or religious group membership. (Will, 2019). Using the categories of family heritage and religion, we were able to demonstrate that adolescents of Turkish and Arab heritage, as well as Muslims, faced higher rates of discrimination than teenagers of other heritages and religions (SVRForschungsbereich, 2018). Furthermore, only Muslim students' intrinsic academic drive was negatively affected by perceived societal Islamophobia.

Stigmatizing public discourses may be replicated in educational practices, such as teachers' negative assumptions regarding the competency and performance of pupils of Turkish descent. (Froehlich et al., 2016). Since the experiences of discrimination suffered by distinct heritage and religious groups would have been obscured if only'migrant background' had been included, using these categories made our study results more exact and representative.

Using an open-ended question, we were able to learn how today's youth see themselves in relation to their origin and nationality, providing evidence against the false dichotomy commonly formed between 'German' participants and those with a'migrant background.' (Moffitt &Juang, 2019). When asking people to describe their race or ethnicity is neither relevant nor practical, asking them about their cultural identity provides an opportunity to take participants' own perspective into account. Not only did cultural identification assist explain a great deal of variation in national identity, but it also showed that strong national identity is not threatened by connection with one's heritage culture and that the strength and type of national identity fluctuates through generations. Implications for future studies and public conversations on the need for a German "Leitkultur" (a homogenous guiding culture frequently asked for in discussions of immigration and diversity; Risse, 2018) are significant in light of these findings.

This conclusion demonstrates the importance of schools not viewing the cultural diversity of their students as a danger to societal harmony. Instead, a school atmosphere of cultural pluralism can promote both individual student well-being and academic success (Schachner et al., 2016, 2021) and favorable intergroup attitudes in the classroom by viewing difference as a resource. (Schwarzenthal et al., 2018).

Reference

1. Dimitrova, R., Chasiotis, A., & van de Vijver, F. (2016). Adjustment outcomes of immigrant children and youth in Europe: A meta-analysis. European Psychologist, 21(2), 150–162. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1027/ 1016- 9040/ a0002 46

2. Dimitrova, R., Ozdemir, S. B., Farcas, D., Kosic, M., Mastrotheodoros, S., Michałek, J., & Stefenel, D. (2017). Is there a paradox of adaptation in immigrant children and youth across europe? A literature review. In R. Dimitrova (Ed.), Well-Being of Youth and Emerging Adults across Cultures: Novel Approaches and Findings from Europe, Asia, Africa and America (pp. 261–298). Springer International Publishing. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1007/ 978-3- 319- 68363-8_ 18.

3. Froehlich, L., Martiny, S. E., Deaux, K., & Mok, S. Y. (2016). “It’s their responsibility, not ours”: Stereotypes about competence and causal attributions for immigrants’ academic underperformance. Social Psychology, 47(2), 74–86. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1027/ 1864- 9335/ a0002 60

4. Jugert, P., Kaiser, M. J., Ialuna, F., & Civitillo, S. (2021). Researching race-ethnicity in race-mute Europe. Infant and Child Development, 31(1), e2260. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1002/ icd. 2260.

5. Kunst, J. R., Sam, D. L., & Ulleberg, P. (2013). Perceived islamophobia: Scale development and validation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(2), 225–237. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. ijint rel. 2012. 11. 001

6. Moffitt, U., & Juang, L. P. (2019). Who is “German” and who is a “migrant?” Constructing Otherness in education and psychology research. European Educational Research Journal, 18(6), 656–674. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 14749 04119 827459

7. Risse, M. (2018). Why we should talk about German ‘Orientierungskultur’ rather than ‘Leitkultur.’ Analyse & Kritik, 40(2), 381–404. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1515/ auk- 2018- 0021

8. Schachner, M. K., Noack, P., van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Eckstein, K. (2016). Cultural diversity climate and psychological adjustment at school—Equality and inclusion versus cultural pluralism. Child Development, 87(4), 1175–1191. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/ cdev. 12536

9. Schwarzenthal, M., Schachner, M. K., Juang, L. P., & van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2020). Reaping the benefits of cultural diversity: Classroom cultural diversity climate and students’ intercultural competence. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(2), 323–346. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1002/ ejsp. 2617

10. Schwarzenthal, M., Schachner, M. K., van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Juang, L. P. (2018). Equal but different: Effects of equality/inclusion and cultural pluralism on intergroup outcomes in multiethnic classrooms. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24(2), 260–271. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1037/ cdp00 00173

11. Stevens, G. W. J. M., Boer, M., Titzmann, P. F., Cosma, A., & Walsh, S. D. (2020). Immigration status and bullying victimization: Associations across national and school contexts. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 66, 101075. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1016/j. appdev. 2019. 101075

12. SVR-Forschungsbereich. (2018). “Wo kommen Sie eigentlich ursprunglich her?” Diskriminierungserfahrungen und phanotypische Differenz in Deutschland [’Where are you really from?’ Discrimination experiences and phenotypical difference in Germany]. https:// www. svr- migra tion. de/ publi katio nen/ diskr imini erung serfa hrung en/

13. Will, A. K. (2019). The German statistical category “migration background”: Historical roots, revisions and shortcomings. 19(3), 535–557. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1177/ 14687 96819 833437.