Articles de revues sur le sujet « Education, labour economics, migration, religion »

Based on the materials of ethno-sociological and ethno demographic studies from the Soviet and post-Soviet times, carried out by Russian and Moldavian scientists, the article presents a dynamic, socio-cultural image of a Gagauz woman. Different aspects of a modern woman’s life are considered: her life values, attitude to labour, education, wealth, marriage and family. The article also raises questions about religion, ethnic identity, language skills, labour migration of Gagauz women, the transformation of gender stereotypes in Gagauz society. Powerful globalization processes, socio-economic and spiritual crisis, a high level of impoverishment among the population, as well as the pandemic, have greatly affected the worldview system of people. In the Gagauz society, which is now at the stage of transitioning from a traditional to a modern type of society, the most important moral values and spiritual and moral orientations of women have embodied traditional as well as innovative features. The dynamics of the Gagauz women’s spiritual world is strongly influenced by social transformations related to international labour migration that has to a great extent changed the habitual gender roles in the Gagauz family, the existing models and stereotypes of men’s and women’s behavior, their statuses and relationships.

Esteve A., C.R. Schwartz, J. van Bavel, I. Permanyer, M. Klesment, J. García-Román. The end of hypergamy: global trends and implications Clark G. Microbes and markets: was the Black Death an economic revolution? Van Mol C. Do employers value international study and internships? A comparative analysis of 31 countries Niedomysl T., U. Ernstson, U. Fransson. The accuracy of migration distance measures Graham C., J.R. Pozuelo. Happiness, stress, and age: how the U curve varies across people and places Lennartz C., R. Arundel, R. Ronald. Younger adults and homeownership in Europe through the global financial crisis Demintseva E., D. Kashnitsky. Contextualizing migrants' strategies of seeking medical care in Russia Kashnitsky I., M. Gunko. Spatial variation of in-migration to Moscow: testing the effect of housing market Oparin D.A. Migration and contemporary Muslim space in Moscow. Contextualizing north caucasian loud dhikr and the religious practices of Central Asian folk mullas Demintseva E. Labour migrants in post-Soviet Moscow: patterns of settlement Schöley J., F. Willekens. Visualizing compositional data on the Lexis surface Migheli M. Size of town, level of education and life satisfaction in Western Europe Shi Y., J.J. Kennedy. delayed registration and identifying the "missing girls" in China Peri-Rotem N. Religion and fertility in Western Europe: trends across cohorts in Britain, France and the Netherlands

The experience of Swiss Confederation in the field of integration of immigrants – one of the most economically developed countries of the world, occupying the leading position in Europe on the rate of foreign population in general demographic structure, – has been examined in the article. Evolution of the notions of “integration”, “social assimilation”, “acculturation” and others has been considered and different scientific approaches of Western researches to these notions have been adduced. Swiss immigration policy for the past decades has been traced and the modern integration policy of the country in the field of integration of foreign citizens into receiving society has been analyzed. A detailed analysis of the Swiss normative and legal framework in the field of migration, asylum and integration has been made also, and active development of migration laws over the last decade has been noted. Swiss migration politics, like in other developed Western countries-recipients of foreign labor, contains both: immigration policy (control over entry and stay of foreigners in the country) and policy of integration towards foreigners subject to integration processes.The process of integration of a foreign citizen into a new socio-economic, political and cultural environment is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon. There is a developed and scientifically grounded system of reception, accommodation and integration of foreigners and asylum seekers in Switzerland, which is based on constitutional values, respect and mutual tolerance. At the core of this system is a general strategy of integration, which constitutes a country’s core policy of integration and covers various areas: law, politics, labour issues, housing, education, culture and religion. In order to implement the policy of integration, in Switzerland there are being developed and implemented federal and cantonal integration programs. Integration processes management is administered through the developed system of state authorities at federal, cantonal and other levels, with active participation of different public organizations, including migrant organizations. Federal Council publishes reports on development of integration policy in the country, Federal Migration Office issues annual reports, numerous scientific researches on the theme are being conducted. At present each canton has its own Integration program, designed in accordance with the Modal cantonal program, that allows to implement different integration models, depending on regional requirements and priorities.

Purpose Households suffering from poverty often rely on parental migration and/or paid child labour for survival. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of parental migration on paid child labour and human capital formation in a dynamic context, explicitly taking the effects of parental migration on child’s school and home education into account. Design/methodology/approach The author utilises a mathematical method. In particular, an overlapping-generations model is built, with agents who have a two-period life. The amount of paid child labour is determined as a solution of the utility maximisation problem. Findings Contrary to intuition, parental migration possibilities do not necessarily reduce paid child labour. In addition, parental migration possibilities do not necessarily raise human capital. Moreover, a trade-off might exist between alleviating paid child labour and raising human capital under parental migration possibilities. Research limitations/implications Migration possibilities are given exogenously evenly among potential migrants by the foreign country. However, in general, they depend on potential migrants’ human capital so that migration possibilities differ across agents. Practical implications Migration is usually considered effective in alleviating poverty. However, since it does not necessarily reduce paid child labour and raise human capital, migration should be regulated in some cases as a means to escape from poverty. Originality/value This paper deals with parental migration and paid child labour in an identical dynamic model. This paper assumes that human capital is built not only by school education but also home education, the amount of which changes with the duration of parental migration.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how parental migration due to poverty affects a child’s education and human capital formation through changes in the child’s supply of unpaid labour. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a small open overlapping generations model where the parent migrates for the family’s subsistence and that the child has to give up a part of education to do the housework during the parent’s absence. Findings – The paper finds that given the level of the human capital, reducing the child’s burden of housework and promoting parental migration to high-wage countries do not necessarily raise the amount of child’s education. The paper also finds a possible underdevelopment trap in the dynamic context. Originality/value – Unlike previous studies on child labour, this paper focuses on unpaid labour, whose share is actually larger than that of paid labour. Even if paid labour is available, children cannot re-allocate their time from doing the housework to the market work; so the author cannot disregard this observation. Investigation into the dynamics of human capital formation under such child labour is new.

Extensive archival documentation related to Lithuania and Lithuanians is kept in Russia, and not only in St. Petersburg or Moscow. Archival cases of Lithuanians containing high numbers of ego-documents, are dispersed throughout the vast territory, and are especially numerous in the Siberian memory institutions. Thanks to the project Lithuanian Sibiriada, copies of documents brought from Tobolsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk can be found in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives. By using the analysis of documents and the method of classification, this article tries to systematize the information about the relevant materials found in the state archives of Siberia and to determine their typology. The studied documentation covering the period between 1773 and 1923 was found to belong to such areas of public life as politics, economics, science, education, culture, religion, administration, law, statistics, labor, and migration. These are documents (ranging from drafts and copies to official originals) produced by Lithuanians themselves, scribes, state officials not only in Siberia, but also in Lithuania, St. Petersburg or other parts of the Russian Empire. By type, among the discovered documents, there are decrees and manifests, deportation sentences, appointment letters, certificates, sheets, decisions, court records, lists, metrics, reports, reviews, statistics, financial documents. In terms of ego-documents, letters, requests, complaints, explanations, and wills can be found. With such texts, people sought to report, ask, defend themselves or those close to them, or bequeath property. The government created documents with the purpose of informing, registering, taxing, deporting, liberating, accommodating, employing, accumulating data; (not) issuing permits, allowances, salaries. Photos were taken for the mass media, identification, or inspection. Siberian documents touch on such topics as the uprisings, the annexation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, attempts of Russification, exiles and prisoners, police surveillance, deaths, liberation, return to the social group, employment, marriage, obtaining a passport, business, resettlement, return to Lithuania. Documentary testimonies are available about free Lithuanians in Siberia: workers and farmers, students and teachers, businesspeople and craftsmen, doctors and priests, officials and various specialists, war refugees and repatriates. The addressees of the letters were the governors’ offices, directorates, courts, various institutions, officials, private people. The study showed that, between 1773 and 1923, Siberian documents about Lithuanians most frequently concern the deported persons (political, criminal), their data and applications. Yet, there are also archival cases significant for the history of Lithuania about the Lithuanian colonies, various specialists, famous personalities, businesspeople, about events in Lithuania itself.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine which factors are important in determining the post-migration education among rural-urban migrants in Indonesia. Second, to investigate whether investing in post-migration education in the cities improves the labour market performances of rural-urban migrants. The labour market performances are measured by the occupational (work) statuses and earnings (wages) at destination. Design/methodology/approach The determinants of post-migration education are estimated using a binary probit and ordinary least square, while a multinomial logit model and a two-step procedure of Lee’s selection-biased correction based on the multinomial logit are used to examine the effects of post-migration education on the labour market performances of migrants measured by occupational status and by wages. The main source of the data used in this study is the Rural-Urban Migration in China and Indonesia (RUMiCI) 2009-2011 survey conducted in the four largest recent migrant destination cities in Indonesia including Tangerang, Medan, Samarinda, and Makassar. Findings Post-migration education contributes significantly to the labour market performance in terms of work status and wages, compared to pre-migration education. In terms of work status, migrants with more post-migration education are more likely to be employed in the formal sector compared to migrants with less or no post-migration education. Relating to earnings, migrants with more post-migration education also tend to be paid more than those migrants with less or no post-migration education. Originality/value The role of post-migration education in the case of rural-urban migration particularly in developing countries is a relatively neglected area of research. One possible reason is because of the lack of data for rural-urban migration particularly in the case of developing countries. This study is taking advantage by using a new data set from RUMiCI focusing specifically on the rural-urban migrants in the four largest recent migrant destination cities in Indonesia including Tangerang, Medan, Samarinda, and Makassar.

Over the years, demands for education have become progressively more insistent, more persuasive and complex. The kind of education given impinges on society in a variety of ways to meet an ever-widening range of needs. This research is to examine the effect of rural-urban migration on education and economic development with reference to Ibarapa East Local Government Area of Oyo State. The man and specific motives are to find out the causes of rural-urban migration how it affects the students’ performance and aimed at examining its effect on productivity level of Ibarapa East Local Government Area. The instrument used for collecting the data is the questionnaire. Hypotheses were formulated, whereas simple percentage methods were used to analyze the data. The finding shows that there are the different impacts of rural-urban migration on education and development of Ibarapa East Local Government causes short fall of the labour force, short of qualified and low productivity especially in the agricultural sector. Rural-urban migration contributes to the high rate of unemployment. It increases the number of juvenile delinquencies crimes and other social vices in the society, and it has effect on the educational development of the study area. Based on all the findings, recommendation was made that the government should provide social and infrastructural facilities such as good road network, regular supply of electricity and so on for rural dwellers. And also with the various youth programs, it could be possible to reduce rural-urban migration, most especially when the young ones are exposed to sustainable livelihood activities that they could embark upon.

PurposeThe increasing rate at which individuals, especially, females in Ghana are seeking higher education calls for an estimation of the returns to schooling and education in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs the Mincer equation to a representative cross-sectional micro-data from Ghana using OLS and instrumental variable (IV) methodologies. The paper uses spouse's education as instruments in the IV estimation.FindingsReturn to schooling was found to be higher for females than males, likewise, membership of an old student associations and location of the household. Returns to education increases as the level of education rises whilst the rate of returns initially increases but fall as labour market experience rises. The study also found that the rates of return to education were higher for Christian, followed by Muslim and believers of other lesser-known religion in Ghana.Research limitations/implicationsReturn to schooling was found to be higher for females than males. Likewise, individuals who are members of an old student association and are in urban areas were found to have a higher return to schooling than individuals who are not members of an old student association and are in rural areas. Returns to education increases as the level of education rises whilst the rate of returns initially increases but fall as labour market experience rises. The study also found that the rates of return to education were higher for Christian, followed by Muslim and believers of other lesser-known religion in Ghana.Practical implicationsWage determination process is different for males and females, across religion and residency. The higher returns to schooling for females imply education is a good investment for women and girls and should be a development priority.Social implicationsThe higher returns to schooling for females imply an investment in girl's education should be a development priority.Originality/valueThe paper extends the existing literature by focussing on the role of religion, old student's association (alma mater) and gender on the differential earning returns to schooling.

In these difficult, pressing and uncertain times, migration and mobility in Asia have been incorporated into the projects of state institutions, media and a range of civil society actors. These agendas engender and shape debates that include belonging and exclusion; social mobility and inequality; conflict, violence and persecution; economic growth and labor market outcomes; state regulation, governance and governmentality; as well as diversity and innovation. Where migratory flows and mobility are advancing significant economic, social, political, environmental and ethical concerns, it becomes imperative for us to rethink and unpack these core concepts in creative and multidisciplinary ways. To do so, we assemble a group of scholars from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, and geography who work on a variety of topics related to migration studies, sensory scholarship, anthropology of documents, religion, knowledge mobilities, citizenship, and education. Various case studies to be featured in this special issue include Timor Leste, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, and Taiwan. Collectively the authors critically consider the centrality of both human and non-human actors in constituting the different types, degree, and scales of migration and mobility. The articles in this collection engage with how people, objects, things, deities, discourses, and knowledge move across the different and multiple pathways that constitute everyday life in Asia, the shared regional focus of our various research projects. The collection further elicits the connectivities (or entanglements) and comparisons evinced in our individual research, and collectively, with the goal of critically revisiting and reworking our conceptual toolkits and methodologies.

This article, based on a European social survey for the year 2016, analyzes the attitudes of Russian and European citizens towards the influx of migrants into their respective countries, as well as towards the changes that said migrants bring with them. Despite the fact that Russia is among the leading countries in terms of migrant count, while remaining separated from those migration flows which bred the current European migrant crisis, it is among the top three nations with the most negative attitudes towards people migrating to their country, as well as in terms of evaluating the changes attributed to said migrants. In regards to migration inflow, the utmost negative assessments are prevalent in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Russia. Positive assessments were recorded in Iceland and Sweden. When it comes to changes introduced by migrants, the most negative assessments among all of the countries surveyed were again recorded in Hungary, Russia and the Czech Republic. The most tolerant countries in this regard turned out to be Scandinavian nations: Iceland, Sweden and Finland. Negative assessments in Hungary and the Czech Republic can be attributed to the fact that these nations act as migration transit points of sorts on the path towards the wealthiest of European states. They do not possess the resources necessary to handle accommodating and supporting transit migrants, as well as providing security for their own host populations. This article also cites the discussion on potential reasons for anti-migrant attitudes in foreign research. Among the main reasons highlighted are cultural factors (values and beliefs in the countries studied), economic (competition in the labor market, income level, GDP, the proportion of migrants among the general population), social-demographic (gender, age, education level, type of settlement), contextual factors (religion, political orientation, mass-media influence) etc. In Russia, aside from the aforementioned factors, the effect of low living standards and propagandistic coverage of the European migrant crisis in mass-media is also a consideration.

This article aims to explain the labour market penalties among Muslim women in Britain. It draws on theories of intersectionality and colour/cultural racism to argue that the labour market experience of British-Muslim women is multiply determined via criteria of ascription such as ethnicity, migration status, race and religion rather than criteria of achievement. The study uses data from the Labour Force Survey (2002–2013) with a large sample (N=245,391) of women aged 19–65 years. The overarching finding suggests that most Muslim women, regardless of their multiple ascriptive identities, generation and levels of qualifications, still face significant penalties compared with their White-British Christian counterparts. The penalties for some groups, such as Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black-Muslim women, are harsher than for Indian and White-Muslim women, demonstrating how different social markers and multiple identities have contingent relationships to multiple determinants and outcomes.

Until the 1960s, Finland was more often the country of origin than the country of destination. Once a depressed area, it soon turned into a welfare state, becoming one of the most attractive countries for international migrants. Since Finland’s labour market and society are beset with demographic problems, the country gladly accepts labour migrants, particularly those from neighbouring states. Most EU immigrants coming to Finland are Estonians. Immigration from without the EU — from Russia and other former Soviet countries — has, however, an even greater potential. Non-EU immigration falls into several categories — from seasonal labour migration to the relocation of top specialists and entrepreneurs. Currently, family reunification, marriages, and student and labour migration account for most migration from Russia to Finland. This article attempts to study immigration to Finland from neighbouring countries, primarily from Russia. The result of the study is an analysis of principal channels of international migration to Finland. These are family reunification, student migration, top specialist relocation, and the expansion of Russian business. Finland is in dire need of healthcare specialists, researchers, business development and IT specialists, and other professionals. For example, Russia-bordering Finnish regions lack upper and middle-level healthcare specialists. The focus of the study is on the professional and socio-demographic structure of labour migration to Finland and the country’s migration policy on the adaptation and integration of Russian-speaking immigrants. The article gives a general picture of Finland’s migration policy on labour migration from Russia and other countries. In collecting and processing materials, data from official websites of Finland’s Migration Service and Employment Service, the database of Statistics Finland, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Finnish National Agency for Education were used.

Since migration is considered to play an important role on the attainment of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) this study analyses the reversed perspective of the migration-SDG’s nexus. The data set consists of 308 observations on 28 European Union countries (including the United Kingdom) over a time span of 11 years (between 2008 and 2018). The analysis employed various stages of estimation in order to compare different results obtained from the panel data regression models. Besides the classical panel data regression models, the paper includes the estimation of Arellano-Bover/Blundell-Bond model that uses the Generalized Method of Moments (also known as GMM) as an econometric tool to solve the endogeneity of the selected variables. The focus is on two sustainable development goals: labour and economic growth, and education of the European Union member states plus the United Kingdom. The results showed that there is a significant influence of the selected variables on the migration flows at the European Union level. Although there are some contradictory results regarding the direction and statistical significance of the link between the variables of interest, most estimators do not have fundamentally different results. The GDP per capita keeps its positive impact on migration by generating an immigration flow towards countries with high GDP per capita. Economic growth proves to be the main trigger of migration, while education also plays an important role in shaping migration. The importance of this study derives from the reversed perspectives analysis, considering migration as being directly influenced by the achievement of the sustainable development goals.

The article is devoted to the study of tools to regulate the evolution of the labour market and educational sphere in Germany in connection with digitalization and the development of the “Industry 4.0”. These issues have been studied insufficiently both at the country and cross-country levels, since most of the scientific literature deals mainly with economic and technological aspects of digital transformation, while the role of public policy and the formation of the “digital environment” (including human resources and education) are given much less attention. The paper highlights key features of Germany’s digital strategy, such as the development of cyber-physical systems, IT security, and the reliance on public-private partnerships in the course of digitalization. It also analyzes a wide range of projects, initiatives and programs in the field of regulation of the labour market and education, on the basis of which the German Federal Government provides a solution to the most pressing problems and challenges for the country’s digitalization. According to the findings of the White Paper “Labour 4.0” by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and of a number of experts in labour market of Germany, these challenges include: the lack of the qualified specialists in MINT professions (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften, Technik), specialists with digital skills and knowledge of information and communication technologies; shortcomings in the development of education and digital environment, in particular low levels of technical equipment of schools and other educational institutions; the negative impact of demographics and migration problems on the labour market and employment.

The issues of sustainable development are related to the need in order to reduce poverty, inequality, insecurity, inclusion of immigrants in the system of education and health care, which contradicts the effective long-term solution of the global goals of EU migration policy. The aim of the research is to study the effectiveness of migration policy in the context of sustainable development on the example of EU countries in order to formulate proposals for overcoming the problems of inequality and poverty as priority goals. The results of the research complement the theory of the new economics of labour migration, considering this concept as a way to maximize income and reduce the risk of revenue through education, higher wages and a way to get better health and education services, access to developed infrastructure. However, the heterogeneity of the effects of migration is also reflected in the inability to obtain health services and access to the education system due to the high cost. All this exacerbates the problems of inequality and poverty due to the imbalance of both income and the cost of social services in different EU countries. It has been determined that the policy of integration of immigrants does not ensure the achievement of the goal of inclusive and equitable socialeconomic welfare. Inequality, in particular, gender one remains the main problem of sustainable development through illegal employment and different levels of remuneration. It has been proved that training should be considered in the context of sustainable development as providing access to the education system and programs. Despite the growing participation in educational programs and training of immigrants, the problems of inequality and poverty remain a priority for ensuring sustainable development.

Purpose What is the effect of an increase of migration inflows on the R&D and innovative performance of developing countries? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of migration inflows on the R&D and innovation activity (measured as expenditures on R&D and technological innovations) in Russian regions. Design/methodology/approach To this end, the authors use data on 85 Russian regions for the period 2010-2016 through a multi-region economic geography model. In particular, the authors test the hypothesis about the importance of migration inflows on R&D and technological innovation activity (H1) and the hypothesis about the importance of immigrants’ (incoming migrants) human capital (measured by the education level of incoming migrants) on R&D and innovation activity (H2). Findings Empirical findings support the evidence in favour of a positive causal link between innovation and migration inflows. Results of our investigation are important because they suggest useful insights for formulating science and innovation policies in Russia, which is a developing country where the recent policies favouring the technological innovation as the transition period have not yet achieved a satisfying outcome. Originality/value This paper increases the knowledge in the field with respect to the existing literature, shedding further light on the migration inflows effects, which is a political topic to manage very relevant in all countries.

Nowadays, every fifth German citizen has migration background, while Islam has become the second largest religion in the country. The number of Muslims increases every year, which raises concerns of the local population. Integration of Muslim migrants appears to be a great challenge for the country. Low education level, high religiousness, specifics of Islamic culture, often negative attitude toward this migration group – all of this creates problems with their integration. Modern Germany is an immigration country where integration policy is developed and implemented. The policy is oriented towards establishing conditions for successful integration of Muslims and shaping stable positive opinion about this group of migrants among the local population. German government structures regularly carry out studies of the Muslim population and the specifics of its linguistic, professional and social integration, which allow adapting integration programs. Using the example of Turkish migrants, who represent the largest group of Muslims in Germany (63%), the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees carried out studies that demonstrate specifics and difficulties of their adaptation, as well as successes of integration of the second and the third generations of Muslims. The peak of recent migration activity happened in 2015–2016, where more than 70% of migrants applying for the refugee status were Muslims. In this situation, the most valuable thing appears to be a successful implementation of the integration programs in the spheres of labour, education and socialisation. Taking into account demographic difficulties forecasted for Germany in the coming decades, the living standards and economy stability of the country will depend on the successful integration of migrants.

Promotion of youth employment, especially in the post-conflict territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, is one of the key global problems of a country that is a challenge to its sustainable development. Higher education institutions play an important role in this process. They form the labour potential for the development of a region. However, their activities do not always correspond to their (regional) needs. Studies on employment experience and labour mobility of graduates of higher education establishments in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine evidence of the extremely high rate of re-profiling of young graduates and / or their migration to other regions of the country or abroad. This article proposes a number of measures, including within the framework of educational reform, to be implemented to reduce youth unemployment both in the region and in Ukraine as a whole. It is noted that it is advisable to intensify the processes of supporting the initiatives of young people in post-graduate vocational training and employment, encouraging them to actively seek employment and to acquire a profession or occupation in demand in the labour market. Attention is drawn to the need for awareness-raising and education in this regard. It is argued that measures aimed at preventing the migration of scientists should be included in national policy documents. It is suggested that special attention be given to the programme approach, which should form the basis of a legal mechanism to promote the preservation of the region’s intellectual potential.

Introduction. Transition of the education system to the new state standards defined social order to the teacher: ensure that each student achieves learning results of such quality level which corresponds with the requirements of society. This goal achievement will require significant changes in the field of professional teaching activity, development of new relevant approaches. Teachers’ experience of classes organization in different educational institutions in the framework of their upskilling and retraining in the Institute of Teacher Career Development (Moscow, Russia) shows that their professional activities and the didactic materials used do not adequately implement the psychological patterns of the educational process. They do not adequately implement the processes of mastering and formation of students’ mental actions and concepts, thinking activity; and the teaching and learning activity of the students do not correspond to its psychological structure and content. Teachers reduce the meaning and content of their activity to explaining the material, transferring the «finished» knowledge to the student and demonstrating methods of solving practical problems in a specific domain in the form of samples or algorithms. At that, the emphasis is largely laid on hereditary and individual capabilities of educational process subjects, rather than on universal psychological mechanisms of social experience adoption process. Despite all attempts to optimize the educational process, educational institutions graduates’ proficiency level varies. The adoption of the Russian federal target program of education development for 2016-2020 meets the requirements of modern innovative socially oriented development of the Russian Federation. It highlighted the problem of educational process theory and its organization practice failure to solve the problem of quality education inavailability for each learner. The researches of foreign authors in the field of education conducted over the past 20 years give the priority to the problem of providing quality educational results by the teacher, the solution of which is directly related to the development of his or her professional activity, new educational technologies and courseware for the educational process. The purpose of this work is to assess the impact of the quality of education on the economic development of the country in social and labour relations. Results. The conducted research allows us to confirm that changes in the state of development of social and labour relations in the national economy in the direction of improvement or degradation are due to a number of factors of macroeconomic, demographic and migration nature and indicators of the education sector effectiveness. At the same time, educational factors both in aggregate in the form of an integral indicator (for the 3rd block of factors), and separately (for indicators: trained (graduated) qualified workers and university graduates, the share of employed graduates of technical education institutions and universities financing education by the public sector) have a direct significant relationship. Conclusions. The study confirms that the changes in the development of social and industrial relations in the national economy towards improvement or degradation are caused by a number of macroeconomic, demographic and migration background factors and indicators of the effectiveness of the education sector. Factors such as educational-related in the form of an integral indicator, as well as separately have direct significant relationship.

The thrust of this paper is to analyse the issues surrounding child labour and delinquent behaviour, linking the core of the problem to parents’ financial status, cultural practices and parental literacy. The article presents that child labour is a widespread global abnormality, wherein underage children are illegally engaged in undignified, dangerous, and debasing economic activities without considering the implication on their safety, security and dreams. These children are unduly engaged or employed to work for longer hours; usually at dumpsites, industrial layouts, farmlands, and in other settings; as servants, labourers and scavengers. A situation that has a significant socio-psychological effect, which in extreme cases results in delinquent behaviour. Child labour invariably creates a feeling of false maturity syndrome, as well as, exposes children to negative habits in the course of interacting with people of low-virtue, who often in the guise of patronizing their wares indoctrinate them into their unsavoury ways of life. As Nigeria battles the increasing rate of child labour and the attendant juvenile delinquency, it has become imperative that qualitative education should be made free, compulsory, relevant, attractive, and available for all, irrespective of their tribe, gender, religion, and geographical location. If child education is guaranteed, it, therefore, follows that parents would not see the need to give out their children as baby sitters and house helps to their relatives who initially promise to give the child good education whereas such relatives eventually use the innocent child in multiple labour such as domestic laundry and street hawking. Received: 7 September 2020 / Accepted: 31 March 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021

ObjectiveResearch on health services for immigrants has mostly been concerned with access barriers but rarely with appropriateness and responsiveness of care. We assessed whether appropriateness and responsiveness of care depend on migration status, using provision of neuraxial anaesthesia (NA) during labour as indicator. In relation to their migration status, we analysed whether (1) women undergoing elective or secondary/urgent secondary caesarean sections (ESCS) appropriately receive NA (instead of general anaesthesia), (2) women delivering vaginally appropriately receive NA and (3) women objecting to NA, for example, for religious reasons, may deliver vaginally without receiving NA (provider responsiveness).DesignCross-sectional study.SettingThree obstetric hospitals in Berlin, Germany.MethodsQuestionnaire survey covering 6391 women with migration history (first and second generations) and non-immigrant women giving birth; data linkage with routine obstetric data. We assessed the effects of migrant status, German language proficiency, religion and education on the provision of NA (primary outcome) after adjusting for other maternal and obstetric parameters.ResultsThe chance of receiving NA for elective/ESCS was independent of migrant status after controlling for confounding variables (adjusted OR (aOR) 0.93, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.33). In vaginal deliveries, first (but not second) generation women (aOR 0.79, 95% CI 0.65 to 0.95), women with low German language skills (aOR 0.77, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.99) and women with low educational attainment (aOR 0.62, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.82) had lower chances of receiving NA; there was no evidence of overprovision among women with strong affinity to Islam (aOR 0.77, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.94).ConclusionsWe found evidence for underprovision of care among first-generation immigrants, among women with low German language proficiency and particularly among all women with low educational attainment, irrespective of migration status. There was no evidence for overprovision of care to immigrant women, either inappropriately (general anaesthesia for ESCS) or because of low provider responsiveness (no opt-out for NA in vaginal delivery).

Abstract This article focuses on the entanglement of trajectories of transnational education/work and religious conversion among Chinese overseas students who move to the UK before returning to China. In contrast to the existing literature on returnees where the gaze is only turned on highly prestigious schemes/trajectories of return, we look at those who become involved with Christian evangelical congregations and bible reading groups in response to a general state of disillusion with social beliefs of global competition and success. By drawing on ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in London and Beijing, we engage with literature on lived religion, migration and the care of the self through a sociolinguistic lens. We take pressures for successful return as a technology of hope that shaped our participants’ experiences of Christian conversion, and examine religious practices as support-based subject-transformation projects whereby our participants regulate their and others’ practices and feelings through daily semiotic activities as they operate within global spaces of higher education and the labour market. In so doing, we detail a complex interplay of self-transformation experiences, collective practices of refusal, and capitalist logics of market expansion.

Objective - The primary objective of this study is to examine the association of the push-pull factors, perceived job prospects for students following graduation, religious considerations, and adaptability of international students with their intention to migrate. Methodology/Technique - A total of 373 international students, enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate university programs in Malaysia, participated in the study. An online self-assessment and questionnaire was used to collect the results, using a series of questions and responses from the students. Findings - The empirical findings of the study reveal that the intentions of international students to migrate to Malaysia are mainly aroused by the Muslim environment in Malaysia, and other religious factors. On the other hand, economics and development were the primary considerations of international students intending to migrate elsewhere (excluding Malaysia). Novelty – Malaysia should continue to promote and market itseld more efficiently to international students, especially those from Asia and Africa, to position itseld as an "Educational Hub" (eduhub) within South-east Asia. In addition, international students' intentions to migrate were perceived to be closely connected to the actual numbers for future migration to Malaysia, and mobility of skilled labour; this may be identified as an area for further study. Type of Paper - Empirical Keywords: Transnational Migration, Intention, Migrants, Push-pull, Student Mobility, Religion. JEL Classification: A2, A29.

Middle East Arab diasporas, primarily the Iraqi and Syrian ones, are playing an increasing role in the economy and demography of Sweden. This study aims to describe the formation of economically active diasporas in Sweden over the past three decades. There has been a paradigm shift in the immigration and business activity of people from the Middle East Arab countries in Sweden. Diaspora leadership changes depending on the situation in the countries of origin and migration phenomena driven by political and military shocks. This change affects the migration process and the role of communities in the economic life of the country. The study draws on the work of top research centres and data from leading Swedish and international statistical agencies. The rise and subsequent decline in Syrian immigration, which included labour migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, did not restore the unconditional leadership of the Iraqis among the Arab communities of Sweden. The significant business activity of Syrian immigrants, their professional skills, level of education, and broad business ties make the diaspora a likely leader in the Arab community. These four factors also contribute to easier migrant integration into Swedish society.

The two channels that explain how migration of a household member affects human capital formation of those left-behind are income and family disruption effects. In this study, remittances and migration impacts on human capital formation in Jordan is researched with respect to preferred migrant destinations and to the originating governorates of migrants. Jordan’s Labour Market Panel Survey-2010 is used to carry out the analyses. Remittances are found to have a positive impact on “schooling”, and findings do not change significantly across households with respect to the host country. There is no solid evidence of family disruption, except in households where both parents are absent; however, this is limited with those who have chosen Arab countries as the host. Heterogeneity in the education level of migrants from different governorates does not play a significant role that effects a schooling decision, except for Mafraq.

One of the most important characteristics of the labour market is labour mobility that allows assessing the economic efficienc y o f labour . A comparativ e analysi s i s necessar y fo r determinin g th e degre e o f mobility . I n term s o f spatia l and sectoral characteristics, the paper assesses the degree and dynamics of mobility in the Russian labour market based on previously published studies, as well as the authors’ findings. To determine the degree of mobility, the research uses various approaches, applying both direct (mobility costs, transition matrices) and indirect indicators (structural unemployment, wage differentiation, unemployment rate, gross regional product (GRP)). The analysis uses the data of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey — Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) and Federal State Statistic Service (Rosstat) for 2000– 2016. The obtained results demonstrate a relatively low intersectoral and interregional mobility in Russia compared to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Low intersectoral mobility may indicate weak exchangeability of the sectors and high mobility costs. The largest number of transitions is observed in trade, where employees do not need any specific knowledge. Generally, other transitions are made between related sectors that require similar knowledge from employees. The lowest intersectoral mobility is characteristic for the education and health sectors. According to the Shorrocks index, in Russia, interregional mobility is lower than intersectoral mobility. Low spatial mobility is explained by high migration costs, including those associated with “poverty traps”, the peculiarity of statistical accounting of migrants and the size of Russian regions. The obtained results are correct for the examined period and the applied criteria. The changes in labour mobility in Russia caused by global digitalisation of the economy and the transition to remote working require a separate study.

One of the most important characteristics of the labour market is labour mobility that allows assessing the economic efficienc y o f labour . A comparativ e analysi s i s necessar y fo r determinin g th e degre e o f mobility . I n term s o f spatia l and sectoral characteristics, the paper assesses the degree and dynamics of mobility in the Russian labour market based on previously published studies, as well as the authors’ findings. To determine the degree of mobility, the research uses various approaches, applying both direct (mobility costs, transition matrices) and indirect indicators (structural unemployment, wage differentiation, unemployment rate, gross regional product (GRP)). The analysis uses the data of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey — Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) and Federal State Statistic Service (Rosstat) for 2000– 2016. The obtained results demonstrate a relatively low intersectoral and interregional mobility in Russia compared to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Low intersectoral mobility may indicate weak exchangeability of the sectors and high mobility costs. The largest number of transitions is observed in trade, where employees do not need any specific knowledge. Generally, other transitions are made between related sectors that require similar knowledge from employees. The lowest intersectoral mobility is characteristic for the education and health sectors. According to the Shorrocks index, in Russia, interregional mobility is lower than intersectoral mobility. Low spatial mobility is explained by high migration costs, including those associated with “poverty traps”, the peculiarity of statistical accounting of migrants and the size of Russian regions. The obtained results are correct for the examined period and the applied criteria. The changes in labour mobility in Russia caused by global digitalisation of the economy and the transition to remote working require a separate study.

The article compares the tendencies of Islamism in school education in France and Germany. Despite the different approaches to the role of religion in schools in these countries with large Muslim communities, there is a growing process of the penetration of Islamism into schools. The external manifestations of this phenomenon coincide ‒ the segregation of schoolchildren in relation to religion. At the same time, the social factor clearly fades away. The author explores the cultural causes of Islamism, which are based on the gap between the secular culture of France and Germany and the worldview of Muslim youth. At the turn of the 1980s in France and Germany the assimilation policy of integration exhausted its possibilities, primarily due to the massive influx of migrants from Muslim countries who created their own territorial enclaves ("parallel societies"), in which the power of the state was minimized. There was a paradigm shift at the turn of the 1980s‒1990s, when Western countries began to implement a policy of multiculturalism, which also suffered a failure. The article examines how the value of a person's religious affiliation as opposed to civic value, the priority of group rights in relation to the rights of an individual became the reason for the strengthening of Islamism in schools in France and Germany. That was a direct consequence of both the mass migration of the 1980s and 1990s, which took the form of superficial naturalization, with the goal of obtaining social benefits without becoming introduced to the culture of Western countries, and the failed policy of multiculturalism. If these problems are not tackled, the success in curbing the Islamist wave in European schools is unlikely.

The COVID 19 pandemic and its consequences have changed the lives of migrants around the world. It affected all spheres of people’s life, from the health and education systems to the economy and politics. Migrants who were carrying out work abroad during the outbreak of the pandemic literally became hostages of the situation, many lost their jobs and were forced to return home. However, at home many of them became unexpected guests, so that they hope to be able to return back to where they came from as soon as the borders are opened, and resume their working days in order to continue to provide for their families. In the article, the author examines labour migration from the Republic of Moldova during the COVID 19 pandemic and analyses its impact on citizens who work abroad. It is noted that Moldova is a country where a third of the employable age population is working abroad. In 2019–2020, many migrants had to return to their homeland and adapt to new living conditions, including finding a job at home, with a relatively high unemployment rate in the country. It is emphasized that since the end of 2019, when the pandemic began, despite the “crisis” that has arisen, money transfers have not decreased, but, on the contrary, have broken the maximum record since 2008. In order to identify the impact of the pandemic on migrants, a survey was conducted among Moldovan citizens who work abroad, and they were asked to answer the following questions: where they work; what their education level is; on what grounds they live in the country where they work; how their employment has changed since the start of the pandemic; if they have tried to return to their homeland with the outbreak of the pandemic; if they received financial assistance, and from whom, during the pandemic; how their income has changed during the pandemic; if they made money transfers home during the pandemic, and in what quantity. To sun up, it can be said that, not only the COVID 19 pandemic, but also the poor economic situation in the country led to mass migration from the country and instability among its citizens abroad.

The paper deals with the research of the role of labour in the life of contemporary man in terms of the philosophical conception of the "congenial work" of Hrygorij Skovoroda. The reason for turning to Skovoroda's views is the importance of studying the phenomenon of labor, which appears in the XXI century in the sphere of common interests of economics, culturology, philosophy, sociology, psychology. Modern realities – migration processes that move a large number of people from continent to continent, from state to state; new technologies that have been replacing human labor since the industrial revolution, and so on. State social policy is aimed at providing the population with work and supporting those who are temporarily unemployed or completely incapacitated. The challenge for Ukrainian society is the same as for the world community, especially because the events in Ukraine since 2014. Ukrainian society must be ready for innovations in understanding and perceiving the phenomenon of labor in modern conditions. Issues of the balance between work and happiness, the welfare of the individual and the social, and the ways of self-knowledge are being updated. We explore the hard work as the main quality of a socially successful person in the history of Ukrainian culture, negative recovery from laziness and mismanagement. We accent the importance of historical achievements of Ukrainian ethnopedagogy with the transmission of knowledge and experience through imitation, as well as the gender aspect of folk labor education, in particular Ukrainian rituals and traditions of knowledge transfer and education from generation to generation. The modern philosophical view on the correlation of human involvement in work and the formation of a number of human virtues in contrast to laziness and the associated spiritual degradation and poverty is analyzed. Prospects for further research at the junction of economics, sociology, philosophy, psychology, related to the economic set of mind.

The consequences of conflictual views on modelling the economic impact of remittances on agribusiness entrepreneurship and economic growth, has been present for a long time in the economic literature, albeit in a somewhat scattered way. This has attracted wide-spread criticism for agribusiness inititaives and its failure to address rural unemployment within the context of youth participation in the global food markets. This paper provides a summary of the global evidence published in the thematic area of international migration-remittance and sustainable development with emphasis on the financialisation impact of remittance on agribusiness entreprenuership and economic growth. The paper selectively reviews over 100 documented cases that offer insights into the methodological approaches for empirical modelling of remittance studies around the world. The paper bridges different stands of literature in economic and business management sciences and exemplifies the new complementaries between remittance, agribusiness and supply chain developments. Much as the paper advances no particular theory for modelling the economic impact of remittances on agribusiness entreprenuership and growth, it clearly offers insights into picking the appropriate methodological approaches for empirical estimation of the net effects of remittances on agribusiness entrepreneurship and rural youth employment in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The paper pinpoints ample evidence and brings a case for use of randomized experimentation approaches in Sub-Saharan Africa prone to the vagaries of weather- shocks and climate change. The paper further elaborates the nexus between remittance and contemporary development themes of poverty reduction and inequality, investment and savings, labour supply participation and economic growth. The experimental evidence reported around the globe showed that remittances have positive effects on poverty reduction but negative ramifications for labour supply, education, and economic growth. The analysis made a startling discovery which demonstrated that although, remittances reduced labour supply participation in developing economies; it significantly increased consumption of luxury goods in migrant households and made no positive contribution whatsoever to economic growth. This sorepoint courts new attention on resolution of the dilemma of remittance on economic welfare and advances an immediate redress of the emerging crises of methodological misuse in Development economics. Specifically the paper finds penalties with choice of methodological approaches for modelling the economic impacts of remitance on agribusiness entrepreneurship and economic welfare and advocated the inculcation of political economy perspectives in order to intergrate the multidimensionality of the complicated linkages of remittance to agribusiness entrepreneurship, rural youth employment and sustainable economic growth.

ABSTRACT: This study aims to examine the effect of health, education, and labor force moderated by urban population on the Human Development Index. This study uses a quantitative approach and a Moderated Regression Analysis technique with a sample of 25 OIC countries from 2010-2019 taken by purposive sampling method. The results showed that health, education, and the labor force affected the Human Development Index. While the urban population moderates the effect of health and the workforce on the Human Development Index, the urban population does not moderate the effect of education on the Human Development Index. This study has a novelty in the results of the study, namely the basic education variable which has a significant but negative effect on the Human Development Index. This research is limited to a sample of OIC member countries because more than 30% of poor countries with low income according to World Bank data are in OIC member countries, so it is hoped that this research will be able to provide references related to increasing the human development index to save them from poverty. Keywords: Education, Health, Human Development Index, Labor Force, Urban Population ABSTRAK: Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji pengaruh kesehatan, pendidikan, dan angkatan kerja yang dimoderasi oleh kepadatan populasi terhadap Human Development Index. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dan teknik Moderated Regression Analysis dengan sampel 25 negara OKI dari tahun 2010-2019 yang diambil dengan metode purposive sampling. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kesehatan dan angkatan kerja berpengaruh positif signifikan terhadap Human Development Index, namun pendidikan berpengaruh negatif signifikan terhadap Human Development Index. Urban population memoderasi pengaruh antara kesehatan dan angkatan kerja terhadap Human Development Index, namun urban population tidak memoderasi pengaruh pendidikan terhadap Human Development Index. Penelitian ini memiliki kebaruan dalam hasil penelitian, yaitu variabel pendidikan dasar yang justru berpengaruh namun negatif signifikan terhadap Human Development Index. Penelitian ini terbatas dilakukan pada sampel negara anggota OKI sebab lebih dari 30% negara miskin dengan pendapatan rendah menurut Data Bank Dunia adalah ada pada negara anggota OKI, sehingga diharapkan penelitian ini mampu memberikan referensi terkait peningkatan indeks pembangunan manusia untuk menyelamatkannya dari kemiskinan. Kata Kunci: Angkatan Kerja, Human Development Index, Kesehatan, Pendidikan, Urban Population. DAFTAR PUSTAKA Adom, K., & Asare-Yeboa, I. T. (2016). An evaluation of human capital theory and female entrepreneurship in sub-Sahara Africa: Some evidence from Ghana. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 8(4), 402–423.doi:10.1108/IJGE-12-2015-0048 Alam, K. (2017). Poverty reduction through enabling factors. World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 14(4), 310–321.doi:10.1108/wjstsd-07-2016-0049 Alkire, S., & Shen, Y. (2017). Exploring multidimensional poverty in China: 2010 to 2014. Research on Economic Inequality, 25, 161–228.doi:10.1108/S1049-258520170000025006 Bakhtiari, S., & Meisami, H. (2010). An empirical investigation of the effects of health and education on income distribution and poverty in Islamic countries. International Journal of Social Economics, 37(4), 293–301.doi:10.1108/03068291011025255 Barkah, T., Rusgianto, S., & Wardhana, A. (2022). Impact of agricultural land and the output of agricultural products moderated with internet users toward the total export of agricultural product in three islamic South East Asian Countries. Media Agribisnis, 6(1).11-22.doi:10.35326/agribisnis.v6i1.2261 Bircher, J., & Kuruvilla, S. (2014). Defining health by addressing individual, social, and environmental determinants: New opportunities for health care and public health. Journal of Public Health Policy, 35(3), 363–386.doi:10.1057/jphp.2014.19 Bradshaw, T. K. (2007). Theories of poverty and anti-poverty programs in community development. Community Development, 38(1), 7–25.doi:10.1080/15575330709490182 Cabus, S., & Stefanik, M. (2019). Good access to adult education and training for the low-educated accelerates economic growth: Evidence from 23 European Countries. KU Leuven HIVA Working Paper Series.1-35.doi:2019/4718/005 Chen, K. M., Leu, C. H., & Wang, T. M. (2019). Measurement and Determinants of Multidimensional Poverty: Evidence from Taiwan. Social Indicators Research, 145(2), 459–478.doi:10.1007/s11205-019-02118-8 Choudhry, M. T., & Elhorst, P. (2018). Female labour force participation and economic development. International Journal of Manpower, 39(7), 896–912.doi:10.1108/IJM-03-2017-0045 Faqihudin, M. (2010). Human development index ( HDI ) salah satu indikator yang populer untuk mengukur kinerja pembangunan manusia. Cermin, 241331(47). Fatima, A., & Sultana, H. (2009). Tracing out the U-shape relationship between female labor force participation rate and economic development for Pakistan. International Journal of Social Economics, 36(1-2), 182–198.doi:10.1108/03068290910921253 Febriyanti, A. R., Ratnasari, R. T., & Wardhana, A. K. (2022). The effect of economic growth, agricultural land, and trade openness moderated by population density on deforestation in OIC countries. Quantitative Economics and Management Studies, 3(2).221-234. Gamlath, S. (2013). The governance dimension of human development. Humanomics, 29(4), 240–259.doi:10.1108/H-03-2013-0015 Gunawan, J., Permatasari, P., & Tilt, C. (2020). Sustainable development goal disclosures: Do they support responsible consumption and production? Journal of Cleaner Production, 246.doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118989 House, Q. E., Alkire, S., & Santos, M. E. (2010). Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries. Oxford Department of International Development (OPHI) Working Paper No. 38 Ikenberry, G. J. (2002). Human Development Report 2002:Deepening democracy in a fragmanted world. Foreign Affairs, 81(6).doi:10.2307/20033361 Iman, A. N., Sukmana, R., Ghifara, A. S., & Wardhana, A. K. (2022). The effect of zakat collection, company age, and company’s total assets on financial performance of sharia banking in Indonesia 2019-2020. Economic Education and Entrepreneurship Journal, 5(2), 217–224. Jonsdottir, A., & Waghorn, G. (2015). Psychiatric disorders and labour force activity. Mental Health Review Journal, 20(1),13–27.doi:10.1108/MHRJ-05-2014-0018 Mannan, M. A. (1995). Teori dan praktek ekonomi islam. Yogyakarta:Dana Bhakti Wakaf. Mitra, A., & Murayama, M. (2009). Rural to urban migration: A District-Level analysis for India. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 5(2), 35–52.doi:10.1108/17479894200900011 Oladapo, I. A., & Ab Rahman, A. (2016). Re-counting the determinant factors of human development: a review of the literature. Humanomics, 32(2), 205–226.doi:10.1108/H-02-2016-0018 Pawitro, I. U. (2011). Trend kawasan perkotaan - industri property dan gaya hidup metropolitan. Mercubuana,438–447. Putri, R. M., & Mintaroem, K. (2020). Determinan islamic human development index (IHDI) Provinsi Jawa Timur tahun 2001-2016. Jurnal Ekonomi Syariah Teori Dan Terapan, 6(7), 1410.doi:10.20473/vol6iss20197pp1410-1420 Ryadi, A., & Sincihu, Y. (2013). Indikator sensitif bagi penilaian kualitas hidup manusia : Tinjauan dari aspek kesehatan masyarakat. Jurnal Widya Medika, 1(1), 109–116.doi:10.33508/jwm.v1i1.846 Shah, S. (2016). Determinants of human development index: A cross-country empirical analysis. International Journal of Economics and Management Studies, 3(5), 43–46.doi:10.14445/23939125/ijems-v3i5p106 Suliyanto. (2011). Ekonometrika Terapan : Teori dan Aplikasi dengan SPSS. Yogyakarta: Andi. Wardhana, A. K. (2021). The Application of waqf and endowment fund based on the principles in the sharia maqashid pillar society. Prosperity: Journal of Society and Empowerment, 1(2), 107–119.doi:10.21580/prosperity.2021.1.2.8829 Wekullo, C. S., Davis, E. C., Nafukho, F. M., & Kash, B. A. (2018). Health and human development in Kenya: A review of literature from high income, middle income, and low income countries. European Journal of Training and Development, 42(1-2), 5–34. doi:10.1108/EJTD-06-2016-0040 Yanagisawa, A. (2011). Poverty: Social control over our labor force. International Journal of Social Economics, 38(4), 316–329.doi:10.1108/03068291111112022

There is a tendency in academic literature to compare and contrast reli- gions to try to understand the motivations of the convert. What are the costs and benefits of conversion? What is gained and what is lost? Thinking in these utilitarian terms can lead to a focus on causality and materiality, rather than the metaphysical and ephemeral aspects of religious thought and practice. Furthermore, religious conversion to Islam is often mired in the same prejudices and stereotypes of the orient found in western and predominantly Judeo-Christian depictions of the Middle East, the region that Islam is most often associated with. In Everyday Conversions: Islam, Domestic Work, and South Asian Migrant Women in Kuwait, Attiya Ahmad moves away from the emphasis on what distinguishes religious traditions and discursive communities to focus on what religious conversion means to the individual convert. Ahmad seeks to counter the notion that conver- sion must have some material benefit to the convert and instead looks at the quotidian character of religious transformation. Ahmad argues in her eth- nographic work that conversion can be understood through the minutiae of daily interactions, conversations, and affections that develop over time. She follows the lives of migrant domestic workers in the Gulf and their relationships with their employers as well as their own families over the course of their conversions and argues that it is neither the strength of the da'wa movement in Kuwait, nor the benefits gained by conversion to the employee/employer relationship that effectively describes the reason the women convert (although Ahmad is admittedly not looking for causality). Instead, Ahmad writes: “I have sought to tell a more modest and mundane set of stories that convey moments of slippage, tension and traces of feel- ings, thoughts and impressions of everyday conversion” (194). The strengths of Ahmad’s ethnography lie in its attention to detail and equanimity in representing the challenges of migration and domestic labor. Ahmad is careful not to create victims, nor inflate the value of the women’s migration and conversion to their economic or personal well-being. In this approach, there are hints of Lila Abu-Lughod’s and Saba Mahmood’s work with women who appear to be in marginal or precarious positions. Like these feminist ethnographers, Ahmad is attuned to the ethics and politics of representation, but with an eye towards transnational and cultural stud- ies. In its theoretical framing, the ethnography calls to mind the work of Michel DeCerteau in The Practice of Everyday Life, which rejects theories of production to focus on the consumer. Furthermore, by placing conversion in light of transnational migration, Ahmad also shows how the individu- al convert navigates her conversion through the complex nexus of Kuwait City as well as her own home town. Thus, the individual convert as artist of her own conversion is the primary subject of Ahmad’s book. My one cri- tique of the book would be in the area of theory, where Ahmad is hesitant to challenge others who have written on the subject of Islamic religious faith and practice, despite the theoretical weight evident in her ethnography. In the introduction, Ahmad begins with Talal Asad and Saba Mah- mood’s seminal arguments in the field of anthropology of Islam, which she argues “relativize and provincialize secular modern understandings of sub- jectivity, agency and embodied practice” (9). She distinguishes her work from Asad and Mahmood’s by utilizing a transnational feminist framework that highlights the process of “mutual constitution and self-constituting othering, as well as sociohistorical circumstances” (10). Ahmad wants to go beyond discursive narratives of secular liberalism and the Islamic piety movement. Specifically, Ahmad follows the approach of Eve Sedgewick, who eschews Judith Butler’s “strong theory” in exchange for an approach that looks at factors that “lie alongside” gender performativity (23). Ahmad does this by showing “how religious conversion also constitutes a complex site of interrelation through which religious traditions are configured and reconfigured together” (24). Instead of showing conflict or contrasting discursive traditions, Ahmad contends that the best way to understand the lives and stories of her interlocutors are in the quotidian affairs of the households they work and live in. She divides the chapters into the affec- tive experiences the women have as a result of their migration experiences, which in turn spur their conversions. Chapters one and two cover the political and geographic terrain that the women must cut across, which produces an overwhelming feeling of being neither here nor there, but temporarily suspended between states, households, and religions. Chapter one paints a somewhat grim picture of the politically precarious position of migrant women within the kefala sys- tem, labor laws, and bans on migrations often creating impossible condi- tions for migrant woman. Chapter two sets out to “discern, document and describe” (66) the migratory experience and why it produces uncertainty about one’s place in the world. It follows the women back and forth between Kuwait and their home countries, emphasizing the socio-historical context that requires a transnational feminist framework. The four women that Ah- mad follows throughout the book share their migratory journeys and their sense of “suspension” between two households. This chapter segues neatly into chapter three, where the women share how being a female migrant and domestic laborer requires knowledge of cross-cultural norms regarding gender, all of which require the women to be naram, “a gendered, learned capability of being malleable that indexes proper womanhood” (122). In their own eyes, a successful domestic worker from South Asia bends to the norms of the society they are in, and they attribute male and female migrant failure to being too sakht, or hard and unyielding. Here, I would have liked a stronger connection between how she describes naram and how Mahmood describes malaka. Does being naram lay the groundwork for women’s conversion to Islam, a religion which requires the ability to engage in rituals entailing patience, modesty, and steadfastness? Ahmed hints at this connection in the conclusion to the chapter—“Being naram resonates with the fluid, flexible student-centered pedagogies of Kuwait’s Islamic dawa movement, thus facilitating domestic worker’s deepening learning of Islamic precepts and practices” (123)—but she could have spent more time discussing the overlap in the concepts in either chapter three or five, where she discusses the da'wah movement. Chapters four and five deal directly with questions of religious thought and practice and illustrate how the women grapple with Islamic practices in the household as their relationships with their employers deepen. Chapter five is about the household and the everyday conversations or “house talk” that Ahmad argues are the touchstones for the women’s conversion. The daily relations in the household make blending and layering practices of Is- lam onto older traditions and rituals seem easy and natural. Ahmad argues that “the work undertaken by domestic workers—such as tending to family members during trips and caring for the elderly or the infirm—necessari- ly involves the disciplining and training of their comportment, affect and sense of self ” (129) and makes Islamic practices easier to absorb as well. Chapter 6 is a foray into the da'wah movement classroom. Like Mahmood’s Politics of Piety, Ahmad shows how the teachers and students use the space to create “intertwining stories” of patience in the face of hardship and the eventual rewards that come from this ethical re-fashioning, which mirror their own hardships as converts and help them deal with the dilemmas of being female migrant and domestic workers. The chapter ends with a sense of uncertainty, returning to the themes of temporality and suspension that began the book. Ahmad can’t say whether the conversions will remain fixed pieces or will bend and move with the women as their circumstances change. In the epilogue, Ahmad follows the “ongoing conversions” of her inter- locutors as some of them return home as Muslims and encounter new chal- lenges. As a book that focuses on the everyday, it is fitting to end on a new day and possibly, a new conversion. The strength of Ahmad’s ethnography is in giving center-stage to the considerable creativity and diligence mi- grant women show in piecing together their own conversions. This piecing together is perfectly captured by the book’s cover, which features Azra Ak- samija’s “Flocking Mosque”. The structure of a flower illustrates how believ- ers form a circular and geometric shape when gathered in devotion to God. Like Aksamija’s patterns, which build into a circular design, Ahmad’s chap- ters each represent a key piece of the story of migrant domestic workers’ conversion to Islam as a gradual process that blends nations, households, and individuals together to create a narrative about the women’s newfound faith. Scholars should read this book for its textured and detailed observa- tions about migrant women’s daily lives and for its treatment of religious conversion as a gradual process that unfolds in the everyday experiences of individuals. It would also be a great book for students as theory takes a back seat to the ethnography. The book is a refreshing, graceful approach to the subject of religious conversion and Islamic faith. Ahmad stays focused on telling her interlocutors’ stories while navigating often conflicting posi- tions. Rehenuma AsmiAssistant Professor of Education and International StudiesAllegheny College

There is a tendency in academic literature to compare and contrast reli- gions to try to understand the motivations of the convert. What are the costs and benefits of conversion? What is gained and what is lost? Thinking in these utilitarian terms can lead to a focus on causality and materiality, rather than the metaphysical and ephemeral aspects of religious thought and practice. Furthermore, religious conversion to Islam is often mired in the same prejudices and stereotypes of the orient found in western and predominantly Judeo-Christian depictions of the Middle East, the region that Islam is most often associated with. In Everyday Conversions: Islam, Domestic Work, and South Asian Migrant Women in Kuwait, Attiya Ahmad moves away from the emphasis on what distinguishes religious traditions and discursive communities to focus on what religious conversion means to the individual convert. Ahmad seeks to counter the notion that conver- sion must have some material benefit to the convert and instead looks at the quotidian character of religious transformation. Ahmad argues in her eth- nographic work that conversion can be understood through the minutiae of daily interactions, conversations, and affections that develop over time. She follows the lives of migrant domestic workers in the Gulf and their relationships with their employers as well as their own families over the course of their conversions and argues that it is neither the strength of the da'wa movement in Kuwait, nor the benefits gained by conversion to the employee/employer relationship that effectively describes the reason the women convert (although Ahmad is admittedly not looking for causality). Instead, Ahmad writes: “I have sought to tell a more modest and mundane set of stories that convey moments of slippage, tension and traces of feel- ings, thoughts and impressions of everyday conversion” (194). The strengths of Ahmad’s ethnography lie in its attention to detail and equanimity in representing the challenges of migration and domestic labor. Ahmad is careful not to create victims, nor inflate the value of the women’s migration and conversion to their economic or personal well-being. In this approach, there are hints of Lila Abu-Lughod’s and Saba Mahmood’s work with women who appear to be in marginal or precarious positions. Like these feminist ethnographers, Ahmad is attuned to the ethics and politics of representation, but with an eye towards transnational and cultural stud- ies. In its theoretical framing, the ethnography calls to mind the work of Michel DeCerteau in The Practice of Everyday Life, which rejects theories of production to focus on the consumer. Furthermore, by placing conversion in light of transnational migration, Ahmad also shows how the individu- al convert navigates her conversion through the complex nexus of Kuwait City as well as her own home town. Thus, the individual convert as artist of her own conversion is the primary subject of Ahmad’s book. My one cri- tique of the book would be in the area of theory, where Ahmad is hesitant to challenge others who have written on the subject of Islamic religious faith and practice, despite the theoretical weight evident in her ethnography. In the introduction, Ahmad begins with Talal Asad and Saba Mah- mood’s seminal arguments in the field of anthropology of Islam, which she argues “relativize and provincialize secular modern understandings of sub- jectivity, agency and embodied practice” (9). She distinguishes her work from Asad and Mahmood’s by utilizing a transnational feminist framework that highlights the process of “mutual constitution and self-constituting othering, as well as sociohistorical circumstances” (10). Ahmad wants to go beyond discursive narratives of secular liberalism and the Islamic piety movement. Specifically, Ahmad follows the approach of Eve Sedgewick, who eschews Judith Butler’s “strong theory” in exchange for an approach that looks at factors that “lie alongside” gender performativity (23). Ahmad does this by showing “how religious conversion also constitutes a complex site of interrelation through which religious traditions are configured and reconfigured together” (24). Instead of showing conflict or contrasting discursive traditions, Ahmad contends that the best way to understand the lives and stories of her interlocutors are in the quotidian affairs of the households they work and live in. She divides the chapters into the affec- tive experiences the women have as a result of their migration experiences, which in turn spur their conversions. Chapters one and two cover the political and geographic terrain that the women must cut across, which produces an overwhelming feeling of being neither here nor there, but temporarily suspended between states, households, and religions. Chapter one paints a somewhat grim picture of the politically precarious position of migrant women within the kefala sys- tem, labor laws, and bans on migrations often creating impossible condi- tions for migrant woman. Chapter two sets out to “discern, document and describe” (66) the migratory experience and why it produces uncertainty about one’s place in the world. It follows the women back and forth between Kuwait and their home countries, emphasizing the socio-historical context that requires a transnational feminist framework. The four women that Ah- mad follows throughout the book share their migratory journeys and their sense of “suspension” between two households. This chapter segues neatly into chapter three, where the women share how being a female migrant and domestic laborer requires knowledge of cross-cultural norms regarding gender, all of which require the women to be naram, “a gendered, learned capability of being malleable that indexes proper womanhood” (122). In their own eyes, a successful domestic worker from South Asia bends to the norms of the society they are in, and they attribute male and female migrant failure to being too sakht, or hard and unyielding. Here, I would have liked a stronger connection between how she describes naram and how Mahmood describes malaka. Does being naram lay the groundwork for women’s conversion to Islam, a religion which requires the ability to engage in rituals entailing patience, modesty, and steadfastness? Ahmed hints at this connection in the conclusion to the chapter—“Being naram resonates with the fluid, flexible student-centered pedagogies of Kuwait’s Islamic dawa movement, thus facilitating domestic worker’s deepening learning of Islamic precepts and practices” (123)—but she could have spent more time discussing the overlap in the concepts in either chapter three or five, where she discusses the da'wah movement. Chapters four and five deal directly with questions of religious thought and practice and illustrate how the women grapple with Islamic practices in the household as their relationships with their employers deepen. Chapter five is about the household and the everyday conversations or “house talk” that Ahmad argues are the touchstones for the women’s conversion. The daily relations in the household make blending and layering practices of Is- lam onto older traditions and rituals seem easy and natural. Ahmad argues that “the work undertaken by domestic workers—such as tending to family members during trips and caring for the elderly or the infirm—necessari- ly involves the disciplining and training of their comportment, affect and sense of self ” (129) and makes Islamic practices easier to absorb as well. Chapter 6 is a foray into the da'wah movement classroom. Like Mahmood’s Politics of Piety, Ahmad shows how the teachers and students use the space to create “intertwining stories” of patience in the face of hardship and the eventual rewards that come from this ethical re-fashioning, which mirror their own hardships as converts and help them deal with the dilemmas of being female migrant and domestic workers. The chapter ends with a sense of uncertainty, returning to the themes of temporality and suspension that began the book. Ahmad can’t say whether the conversions will remain fixed pieces or will bend and move with the women as their circumstances change. In the epilogue, Ahmad follows the “ongoing conversions” of her inter- locutors as some of them return home as Muslims and encounter new chal- lenges. As a book that focuses on the everyday, it is fitting to end on a new day and possibly, a new conversion. The strength of Ahmad’s ethnography is in giving center-stage to the considerable creativity and diligence mi- grant women show in piecing together their own conversions. This piecing together is perfectly captured by the book’s cover, which features Azra Ak- samija’s “Flocking Mosque”. The structure of a flower illustrates how believ- ers form a circular and geometric shape when gathered in devotion to God. Like Aksamija’s patterns, which build into a circular design, Ahmad’s chap- ters each represent a key piece of the story of migrant domestic workers’ conversion to Islam as a gradual process that blends nations, households, and individuals together to create a narrative about the women’s newfound faith. Scholars should read this book for its textured and detailed observa- tions about migrant women’s daily lives and for its treatment of religious conversion as a gradual process that unfolds in the everyday experiences of individuals. It would also be a great book for students as theory takes a back seat to the ethnography. The book is a refreshing, graceful approach to the subject of religious conversion and Islamic faith. Ahmad stays focused on telling her interlocutors’ stories while navigating often conflicting posi- tions. Rehenuma AsmiAssistant Professor of Education and International StudiesAllegheny College

A life-course perspective is a complex approach to researching the life of an individual or group or certain processes used in various disciplines (Börsch-Supan et al., 2013), especially in sociology, demography, psychology, and economics. The life course perspective seeks to connect the historical context that determines an individual’s life with personal history (key events of his or her life) (Edmonston, 2013; Holman and Walker, 2020). The paper explains the differences among how the life-course perspective, lifecycle perspective and life-span perspective approach research topics. More specifically, this paper aims to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of research on aging (quality of life of older people) and migration (quality of life of migrants) from the perspective of life course by reviewing some of the most important papers addressing it, both theoretically and/or practically. In the first of the five chapters of the paper, Introduction, the author explains why the perspective of life course is an interesting research approach to selected topics in Croatia. Together with the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Croatia has experienced a strong increase in the share of the elderly population and significant migration in the last thirty or so years. The major causes of accelerated demographic aging are an increase in life expectancy and a decrease in fertility. The main causes of migration are significant political, social and economic changes in the “old” and “new” EU countries. These are changes in the socio-political and economic systems of the former socialist countries on the one hand, and the expansion of the EU resulting in the opening of the labour market and the possibility of “new” labour migration within Europe on the other. Due to the wars in the Middle East, there is also the issue of dealing with large refugee waves. The life-course perspective is particularly applicable to research on population aging, the assessment of the quality of life and the degree of integration of immigrants in the destination country. The second chapter, Life Perspective and Aging, explains various theoretical approaches to older people (Hagestad and Dannefer, 2001). The institutional approach largely addresses the socio-economic status and roles of the elderly, for example, retirement (Blane et al., 2004; Wanka, 2019). The cultural perspective often deals with negative stereotypes related to aging and formulating different approaches to the elderly (Hagestad and Dannefer, 2001). In order to achieve a holistic approach to aging and old age, various perspectives should be integrated, and aging should be interpreted as a reflection of interrelated events during an individual’s life: historical, environmental and personal. Such a more complex approach involving changes and events throughout an individual’s life is a life cycle perspective (Godley and Hareven, 2001) considered within a particular historical context. Although it is widely accepted, some authors (Giele and Elder, 1998; Edmonston, 2013) explain the limitation of the term “life cycle” by advocating the phrase “life course”. In doing so, they explain life course as a complex relationship between socially shaped events and the roles an individual assumes during life. According to them, this differs from the concept of a life cycle in that the events and roles that make up an individual life experience do not necessarily continue at certain stages of life, as is suggested by the word “cycle”. In addition to the concept of a life cycle, researchers of aging and the quality of life of older people (Fuller-Iglesias, Smith and Antonucci, 2009) also theoretically compare the perspective of life course and the life span perspective without opposing them. Both advocate a view of aging as a long-lasting, multidimensional, continuous, and dynamic process. Life theories deal with the processes and pathways of development and aging as a lifelong process of an individual while life theories deal with differences in socially conditioned events, changes, roles and experiences in the lives of individuals (Fuller-Iglesias, Smith and Antonucci, 2009: 3–5) among certain parts of society (groups). An individual’s daily life is explained by processes and relationships that determine the broader context and how others experience it. Interpersonal relationships with other members of society play a significant role in an individual’s lifestyle and quality of life, regardless of his or her age or migration (in)experience. The life course perspective seeks to explain the impact of different processes on groups of people and individual experiences at each life stage but also the relationship between events from different stages of life. The third chapter, Life Perspective and Biographical Method, discusses the need to return to more significant use of qualitative and interpretative methods, as well as the interest in using a biographical perspective, due to a better understanding of aging and quality of life in old age as well as migration reasons and integration of immigrants in the country of immigration. By telling their life story, a person clarifies the personal understanding of changes in the immediate (personal circle) and the wider environment (society). They also describe how individual members of the group to which the individual feels affiliated, for example, the generation of older people in a particular environment (islands) (Podgorelec, 2008) or immigrants, experienced changes in society during life (older people) or a personal migrant experience and to what extent the changes experienced affect their lives (Amit and Litwin, 2010; Podgorelec, Gregurović and Klempić Bogadi, 2019). Biographical research is especially useful in monitoring the development of an individual’s career, the impact of migration (on a personal level, but also in terms of community development), the way people face new experiences and changes during aging or migration and how they adapt (especially to various losses: employment, health and functional status, life partners, friends etc.). The fourth chapter, Life and Migration Perspective, explains certain characteristics of migration and migrants, especially when moving to the country of immigration. Thus, Jasso (2003: 334) grouped them into characteristics that affect adaptation – age, gender, country of origin, level of education (Finney and Marshall, 2018; Podgorelec, Klempić Bogadi and Gregurović, 2020); degree of success – from assimilation, acculturation and adaptation to integration into the receiving society (Berry, 1990; Amit, 2012; Amit and Bar-Lev, 2014; Podgorelec, Gregurović and Klempić Bogadi, 2019) or failure – giving up and returning to the country of origin or moving to a third country; the success of migrants in childhood or the second generation of migrants (childhood and schooling in the country of immigration) (Pivovarova and Powers, 2019); demographic and economic effects on societies of origin and immigration – studies of loss and gain (relocation of qualified migrants, artists, entrepreneurs) (Gregurović, 2019), remittances (Nzima, Duma and Moyo, 2017), etc. Migrants choose to move at various ages and are motivated by various reasons (Kennan and Walker, 2013). Migration is a process that affects both social environments – that of the origin of the migrant as well as the immigration environment, even if the migrant migrates within a certain country (Čipin, Strmota and Međimurec, 2016; Finney and Marshall, 2018) and assuming that social and cultural differences between places of resettlement are not significant (Amit, 2012; Podgorelec, Gregurović and Klempić Bogadi, 2019). Edmonston (2013: 3) relies on the work of Elder (1994, 1998) in explaining the benefits of using a life-course perspective in (im)migration research. He connects four topics that Elder considers crucial in the analysis of life course: the interconnectedness of individual lives and historical time, planning and selection of important events in an individual›s life, the connection of an individual›s life with others (family, friends, work environment) and action (effect) of social institutions during life. The connection between the general approach to the life course analysis (Elder, 1994, 1998) and the previously mentioned groups of topics in migration research is noticeable already at the first glance (Jasso, 2003). Each of the topics can be supported by various examples in Croatian society. In the last chapter, instead of a conclusion, the author states that by reviewing a part of the literature on aging and migration, it is possible to deduce that, although fundamentally separate processes, observed from a life-course perspective, they share similar trajectories, transitions, turning points and timing (Edmonston, 2013). Thus, research into the quality of life of older people must be grounded in the theoretical construction of aging and the historical context, relying on collected data on the individual’s important life events (life story) and judgments of experiences by both respondents and researchers. A life-course perspective that measures the impact of social, political and economic conditions on the life of an individual and/or a group is an interesting and complex approach to researching selected dimensions of migrants quality of life, given that migration always takes place in a particular historical context by influencing the social environment – countries of origin and countries of immigration. Public policies that support the organisation of care for the elderly, facilitate adaptation and promote the integration of migrants harmonise all sections of society and affect the life satisfaction of the general population.

Field experiments in the last decade documented discrimination in several social domains: labour, housing, education, transportation, and sports. Previous research shows that when asking to join a training with an amateur soccer club, people with foreign-sounding names are significantly less likely to receive a positive response than those with native-sounding names. This result differs in magnitude but is traceable across 23 European countries, including Switzerland (Gomez-Gonzalez et al., 2021; Nesseler et al., 2019). The findings redirect attention from self-segregation to collective exclusion mechanisms when analyzing the ethnic participation gap in amateur sports. The negative implications are magnified as research identifies sport participation as key in promoting social integration among minority group members. Experimental economics also show that field experiments can play a crucial role in developing effective policies to combat discrimination in the future decade. Previous research demonstrates the importance of intervention studies to test the effectiveness of the policies, as not all have the intended results. Dur et al. (2022) analyze the effectiveness of a low-cost intervention to reduce discrimination among amateur soccer clubs in Norway. A correspondence test is preceded by an anti-discrimination intervention in collaboration with the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF). The intervention is based on an information campaign sent via email to a random selection of amateur soccer clubs, which do not modify their behavior as expected. The experimental design of an intervention makes it possible to estimate the causal effect of a low-cost policy against discrimination in the field. In this research, I design an intervention to reduce the ethnic response gap among amateur soccer clubs in Switzerland, where more than 1,000 amateur clubs would be subject to an intervention. I explore the features of the information campaign: message, sender, and channel, and potential collaborations with sports governing bodies to increase the impact of such policy. References Dur, R., Gomez-Gonzalez, C., & Nesseler, C. (2022). How to reduce discrimination? Evidence from a field experiment in amateur soccer. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 49(1), 175-191. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2071688 Gomez-Gonzalez, C., Nesseler, C., & Dietl, H. M. (2021). Mapping discrimination in Europe through a field experiment in amateur sport. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8, Article 95. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00773-2 Nesseler, C., Gomez-Gonzalez, C., & Dietl, H. (2019). What’s in a name? Measuring access to social activities with a field experiment. Palgrave Communications, 5, Article 160. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0372-0

This article focuses on the impact of education as the most important human capital endowment in the context of migration, religion, gender and ethnic identity from a demographic perspective. It presents research-based evidence to address such key research questions as whether and how significantly women's education provides equal benefit in the labour market for individuals, based on their migration status, religion, and ethnic identity. The field of this study is the multi-ethnic and multicultural context of Australia with a wide range of ethnic and religious groups of migrants from throughout the world. Preliminary results show that labour market achievement is positively and significantly associated with the educational attainment of individuals, irrespective of their migration status, religious affiliation and ethnicity. However, more comprehensive analysis from comparative perspectives reveals that the positive economic return of education is higher for natives (compared with migrants), for ethnic migrants from developed regions of origin (compared with those from less developed regions of origin) and for non-Muslims (compared with Muslims). The article provides two plausible explanations for these patterns. The first refers to the lack of recognition of overseas qualifications and to the devaluation of foreign education that particularly applies to ethnic migrants from less developed regions. The second relates to disadvantage through structural discrimination against migrants, particularly when their cultural and religious identity, such as Islamic names and dress codes, are distinctively displayed. In sum, this analysis presents further research-based evidence to go beyond the human capital theory in order to explain more appropriately the economic return of women's education in the context of religion and migration from a demographic perspective.

The present study attempted to bring out the factors that determine the migration decision of the individuals and the choice of destinations for internal labour migration. Standard multivariate logistic regression models were used. The study found that factors such as residence of origin, household size, religion, age, education, economic class and land possessed by the household were the important predictors of the migration decision. Further, the statistical association of different explanatory variables with the choice of destinations revealed that the voluntary migrants had preferred to migrate to long-distance destinations to get higher incomes and better occupations.

AbstractWhilst migration has become a structural feature of most European countries, the integration of foreigners in the labour market continues to raise concerns. Evidence across countries shows that migrants are more often over-educated than natives. Over the last few years, scholarship has intended to capture the effect of informal networks on migrants’ over-education. Interestingly, no study has looked into the Italian case, a country for which the effect of networks on education-occupation mismatch is well documented. This article has two objectives: it assesses the extent to which over-education affects migrants and it evaluates the role informal networks play in producing it. We find that migrants have a higher probability of being over-educated than natives and second-generation migrants. Likewise, we find little evidence of a differentiated effect of networks as they tend to increase migrants’ over-education whilst decreasing it for natives and second-generation migrants. Empirical evidence is drawn from the application of causal inference modelling to PLUS 2018—Participation, Labour, Unemployment Survey.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to characterise the position of highly educated African migrants in the Finnish labour market and to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on that position.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on the biographical work stories of 17 highly educated African migrant workers in four occupation areas in Finland: healthcare, cleaning, restaurant and transport. The sample was partly purposively and partly theoretically determined. The authors used content driven thematic analysis technique, combined with by the biographical narrative concept of turning points.FindingsUsing the case of highly educated African migrants in the Finnish labour market, the authors show how student migration policies reinforce a pattern of division of labour and occupations that allocate migrant workers to typical low skilled low status occupations in the secondary sector regardless of level of education, qualification and work experience. They also show how the unique labour and skill demands of the COVID-19 pandemic incidentally made these typical migrant occupations essential, resulting in increased employment and work security for this group of migrant workers.Research limitations/implicationsThis research and the authors’ findings are limited in scope owing to sample size and methodology. To improve applicability of findings, future studies could expand the scope of enquiry using e.g. quantitative surveys and include other stakeholders in the study group.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the knowledge on how migration policies contribute to labour market dualisation and occupational segmentation in Finland, illustrated by the case of highly educated African migrant workers.

By merging longitudinal register data and a customised survey, this article explores whether sectoral segmentation, migrants’ pre- and post-migration human capital and social structures, shape wages of Polish and Romanian long-term migrants to Denmark. Pronounced wage differences in favour of Polish migrants are evident in the first two years in Denmark, notwithstanding the same regulatory context under the free movement of labour in the EU. Wage differences persist – albeit at a considerably lower level – throughout the eight-year period, mainly because of significant sectoral segmentation. Sectoral segmentation not explained by demographics, pre-migration human capital or crisis effects, might indicate categorical stereotyping by employers. Regarding (co-ethnic) social networks, at least for the early stages of migration, the study does not find significant effects on wages. While the evidence shows a positive return on wages of formal higher education taken post migration, this is not the case for further training and Danish language education.

The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants’ sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general.

AbstractIn Vietnam, it is commonly believed that gender norms, sex labour segregation, and structural organization of social institutions often favour male dominance while restricting women’s roles in domestic spheres. However, there is a scant literature of Vietnamese scholarship on the determinants of gender role attitudes, especially geographical disparities. This paper aims to fill this void by using a nationally representative survey with 8288 respondents. Our findings suggested that age, marital status, religion, education, living area, region, ethnicity, and personal monthly income are the factors that predicted gender attitudes. In terms of regional disparities, we found that Northerners were more permissive in their gender attitudes than Southerners, which may be explained by distinct historical and political trajectories in Northern and Southern Vietnam during the last century. There were, however, inconsistent patterns among different age cohorts whereby region significantly impacted the attitudes of women born before the end of the French War in 1954, men born after the Reunification in 1975, as well as both men and women born between 1954 and 1975.

After the eastern expansion of the European Union (EU), a large number of emigrants left their home countries to work in economically better developed western member states. Hungary followed this EU emigration trend with a certain time lag. However, the rising number of emigrants caused structural problems in the domestic labour market. A comprehensive examination of intra-EU remittances as one of the major determinants of migration has been outside the scope of recent research activity. The data from the Hungarian Microcensus survey and the first Hungarian household survey focusing on the topic of remittances can provide a valuable case study of intra-EU private transfer flows. The aims of this study are twofold. On the one hand we intend to provide empirical evidence for the major factors that determine remittance propensity by calculating probit regressions. On the other hand, OLS regressions are calculated in order to introduce variables which are associated with money transfers. These results are interpreted within the theoretical framework of the New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) to identify the underlying motivations for remittances. The most important findings are that older men with vocational school education have the highest remittance propensity, and the likelihood of sending private support is higher among short-term migrants. As the key factors, the income of the sender person is positively associated with the sum of money flows, while the income of the receiving household is negatively associated. Within the theoretical framework of NELM, these results favour the dominance of altruistic motives, since supporting the household members who remain behind seems to be the major driving force. However, when intentions of returning home are considered in the models, it seems that self-interest might also play a role as a driver of remittances. Within this study, the main focus was on the characteristics of the senders, meaning that a possible field of future research could be an examination of these questions from the perspective of remittance receiver households.

PurposePoor working conditions among migrant labourers on cocoa farms may be commonplace. This could affect labour productivity and cocoa industry performance. The paper investigates migrants' satisfaction with working conditions on cocoa farms in Ghana and the key drivers of satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a five-point Likert scale to evaluate migrants' satisfaction with remuneration, working hours, welfare, health and safety, contract and freedom. Using primary data from 400 migrants and non-migrants in four cocoa districts, multivariate probit regression was employed to evaluate the determinants of satisfaction with working conditions.FindingsMigrant labourers are generally satisfied with their working hours, nature of contract and freedom they enjoy. However, they are unsatisfied with their remuneration, welfare and health/safety conditions on cocoa farms. All things being equal, secondary occupation, nature of contract, number of farmers served by labourer, annual earnings, farm ownership, education and expectations before migration influence migrants' satisfaction with working conditions.Practical implicationsTo improve satisfaction with working conditions and productivity, migrants on cocoa farms should be given protective working gear, long-term or renewable contracts and they should be encouraged to engage in secondary occupations.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies that focussed on working conditions in the formal sector, this study explores migrants' satisfaction with working conditions in the informal agricultural sector. Also, the study examines labourers' satisfaction with six subcomponents of working conditions compared to previous studies that employed a univariate analytical approach to examine working conditions.

The variable “EU identity frame” is used to analyze the content of European identity. An EU frame establishes an understanding of the EU as a certain kind of community (e.g., political community, common market, community with political values). Identity frames are indicated by statements on general objectives, norms and/or historic aspects of the EU. For example, the frame that addresses the EU as a currency union is characterized by the objective to be economically strong and competitive and to uphold the norm of fiscal stability. The variable is usually combined with the coding of the evaluation of an identity frame as support for the EU as a specific kind of community or its rejection. Since one media piece can entail several EU identity frames, addressed by different speakers, EU identity frames have been taken as the coding unit in content analyses. Field of application/theoretical foundation: The variable “EU identity frame” is used in comparative research on the construction of collective European identity in media outlets (Lichtenstein, 2016; Lichtenstein & Eilders, 2015, 2019). Identity is understood as a sense of belonging and togetherness. It is analyzed in the context of conflicts and crises within the EU, when identity should provide a basis for the legitimacy of EU governance and transnational solidarity. Differences in the framing of European identity between countries indicate conflicts that are related to different political and economic objectives or a different understanding of European values and culture. In contrast, a shared understanding of European identity between countries provides orientation for political decisions. In its theoretical foundation, the coding of EU frames has some parallels to the coding of thematic frames on conflict events in research on horizontal transnationalization of the public sphere. References/combination with other methods of data collection: The framing of European identity can also be analyzed with surveys in media effect studies. Example study: Lichtenstein & Eilders (2019) Information on Lichtenstein & Eilders, 2019 Authors: Dennis Lichtenstein, Christiane Eilders Research question/research interest: Conflicts in the framing of European identity between countries during the Euro crisis Object of analysis: Weekly quality papers from Germany, France, and the UK Timeframe of analysis: 2011–2014 Information about variable Variable name/definition: EU Frame „Grundlegend für diese Variable ist die Frage, was Europa ist oder sein soll. Hier wird erhoben, welche Idee von Europa in einer Aussage aktualisiert wird. Diese Idee kann direkt vom Sprecher ausgedrückt werden und zwar entweder durch ein direktes oder indirektes Zitat oder durch die Beschreibung einer aktiven Handlung des Sprechers, die Qualitäten einer Meinungsäußerung aufweist. Außerdem kann eine Europaidee durch das Verhältnis zwischen Europa und einem BZO (Bezugsobjekt) aufgezeigt werden. Hier zeigt sich die Konsistenz des BZO zu der Europaidee: Die Beziehung zwischen dem BZO und der Europaidee kann in einem konformen oder in einem konflikthaften Verhältnis stehen. Z.B. ist die Aussage, „die Türkei passt nicht zum europäischen Wertegefüge“ auf die Idee von Europa als Wertgemeinschaft bezogen und nur in diesem Verständnis wird hier ein konflikthaftes Verhältnis zur Türkei behauptet.“ (Lichtentenstein, 2014) This variable is related to the question of what Europe is or should be according to a speaker’s statement. This idea of Europe can be expressed directly by the speaker, either by a direct or indirect quotation, or by the description of an active action of the speaker that has qualities of an expression of opinion. An idea of Europe can be expressed through the relationship between Europe and a BZO (reference object). Here the consistency of the BZO to the idea of Europe is evident: the relationship between the BZO and the idea of Europe can be either conformist or conflictual. For example, the statement that "Turkey does not fit to the European values" refers to Europe as a community of values, and it is only in this understanding that a conflictual relationship with Turkey is asserted here. EU frames Coded EU sub frames Political integration: EU as a federation Strongly politically integrated community Community with a common constitution Political integration: EU as a confederation Loosely connected community of sovereign nation states Community of states with equal power Market regulations: EU as an authority for market regulations Market intervention by the EU Community with a common economic, finance and tax law Economic solidarity between states with strong and weak economies European social policy European environmental and energy policy Market regulations: EU as a free market EU as a market in competition with other big players EU as a free trade area with competition and labor migration Finance policy: Economic growth Investments for economic growth in the EU and in crisis countries Financial solidarity Finance policy: Finance stability Financial stability in the Euro zone Austerity politics to foster budged discipline in EU countries Common political values Democracy as a European value Peace as a European value Solidarity with other EU countries Rule of law Currency Union Euro zone as an economically strong and competitive currency union Fiscal stability in the Eurozone Cultural community Common European history and mythology EU countries connected by religion Education and arts Diversity of cultures in Europa and encounters with people from different European cultures Community with a common foreign policy Common engagement and interests in foreign policy Common military and defense policy EU as a geographic entity Legitimate EU borders equals the borders of the European continent Level of analysis: EU frame Scale level: Nominal Reliability: Krippendorff’s Alpha = .75 References Lichtenstein, D. & Eilders, C. (2019). Lost in uncertainty. How the Euro crisis affected European identity constructions in national media discourses. International Communication Gazette, 81(6–8), 602–622.

This article is about refugees’ and migrants’ dreams of home and family and stems from an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, “A Hand Up: Disrupting the Communication of Intergenerational Welfare Dependency” (LP140100935), with Partner Organisation St Vincent de Paul Society (WA) Inc. (Vinnies). A Vinnies-supported refugee and migrant support centre was chosen as one of the hubs for interviewee recruitment, given that many refugee families experience persistent and chronic economic disadvantage. The de-identified name for the drop-in language-teaching and learning social facility is the Migrant and Refugee Homebase (MARH). At the time of the research, in 2018, refugee and forced migrant families from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan constituted MARH’s primary membership base. MARH provided English language classes alongside other educational and financial support. It could also organise provision of emergency food and was a conduit for furniture donated by Australian families. Crucially, MARH operated as a space in which members could come together to build shared community.As part of her role, the researcher was introduced to Sara (de-identified), a mother-tongue Arabic speaker and the centre’s coordinator. Sara had personal experience of being a refugee, as well as being MARH’s manager, and she became both a point of contact for the researcher team, an interpreter/translator, and an empathetic listener as refugees shared their stories. Dreams of home and family emerged throughout the interviews as a vital part of participants’ everyday lives. These dreams and hopes were developed in the face of what was, for some, a nightmare of adversity. Underpinning participants’ sense of agency, subjectivity and resilience, Badiou argues (93, as noted in Jackson, 241) that hope can appear as a basic form of patience or perseverance rather than a dream for justice. Instead of imagining an improvement in personal circumstances, the dream is one of simply moving forward rather than backward. While dreams of being reunited with family are rooted in the past and project a vision of a family which no longer exists, these dreams help fashion a future which once again contains a range of possibilities.Although Sara volunteered her time on the research project as part of her commitment to Vinnies, she was well-known to interviewees as a MARH staff member and, in many cases, a friend and confidante. While Sara’s manager role implies an imbalance of power, with Sara powerful and participants comparatively less so, the majority of the information explored in the interviews pertained to refugees’ experiences of life outside the sphere in which MARH is engaged, so there was limited risk of the data being sanitised to reflect positively upon MARH. The specialist information and understandings that the interviewees shared positions them as experts, and as co-creators of knowledge.Recruitment and Methodological ApproachThe project researcher (Jaunzems) met potential contributors at MARH when its members gathered for a coffee morning. With Sara’s assistance, the researcher invited MARH members to take part in the research project, giving those present the opportunity to ask and have answered any questions they deemed important. Coffee morning attendees were under no obligation to take part, and about half chose not to do so, while the remainder volunteered to participate. Sara scheduled the interviews at times to suit the families participating. A parent and child from each volunteer family was interviewed, separately. In all cases it was the mother who volunteered to take part, and all interviewees chose to be interviewed in their homes. Each set of interviews was digitally recorded and lasted no longer than 90 minutes. This article includes extracts from interviews with three mothers from refugee families who escaped war-torn homelands for a new life in Australia, sometimes via interim refugee camps.The project researcher conducted the in-depth interviews with Sara’s crucial interpreting/translating assistance. The interviews followed a traditional approach, except that the researcher deferred to Sara as being more important in the interview exchange than she was. This reflects the premise that meaning is socially constructed, and that what people do and say makes visible the meanings that underpin their actions and statements within a wider social context (Burr). Conceptualising knowledge as socially constructed privileges the role of the decoder in receiving, understanding and communicating such knowledge (Crotty). Respecting the role of the interpreter/translator signified to the participants that their views, opinions and their overall cultural context were valued.Once complete, the interviews were sent for translation and transcription by a trusted bi-lingual transcriber, where both the English and Arabic exchanges were transcribed. This was deemed essential by the researchers, to ensure both the authenticity of the data collected and to demonstrate “trust, understanding, respect, and a caring connection” (Valibhoy, Kaplan, and Szwarc, 23) with the participants. Upon completion of the interviews with volunteer members of the MARH community, and at the beginning of the analysis phase, researchers recognised the need for the adoption of an interpretive framework. The interpretive approach seeks to understand an individual’s view of the world through the contexts of time, place and culture. The knowledge produced is contextualised and differs from one person to another as a result of individual subjectivities such as age, race and ethnicity, even within a shared social context (Guba and Lincoln). Accordingly, a mother-tongue Arabic speaker, who identifies as a refugee (Al-Hameed), was added to the project. All authors were involved in writing up the article while authors two, three and four took responsibility for transcript coding and analysis. In the transcripts that follow, words originally spoken in Arabic are in intalics, with non-italcised words originally spoken in English.Discrimination and BelongingAya initially fled from her home in Syria into neighbouring Jordan. She didn’t feel welcomed or supported there.[00:55:06] Aya: …in Jordan, refugees didn’t have rights, and the Jordanian schools refused to teach them [the children…] We were put aside.[00:55:49] Interpreter, Sara (to Researcher): And then she said they push us aside like you’re a zero on the left, yeah this is unfortunately the reality of our countries, I want to cry now.[00:56:10] Aya: You’re not allowed to cry because we’ll all cry.Some refugees and migrant communities suffer discrimination based on their ethnicity and perceived legitimacy as members of the host society. Although Australian refugees may have had searing experiences prior to their acceptance by Australia, migrant community members in Australia can also feel themselves “constructed in the public and political spheres as less legitimately Australian than others” (Green and Aly). Jackson argues that both refugees and migrants experiencethe impossibility of ever bridging the gap between one’s natal ties to the place one left because life was insupportable there, and the demands of the nation to which one has travelled, legally or illegally, in search of a better life. And this tension between belonging and not belonging, between a place where one has rights and a place where one does not, implies an unresolved relationship between one’s natural identity as a human being and one’s social identity as ‘undocumented migrant,’ a ‘resident alien,’ an ‘ethnic minority,’ or ‘the wretched of the earth,’ whose plight remains a stigma of radical alterity even though it inspires our compassion and moves us to political action. (223)The tension Jackson refers to, where the migrant is haunted by belonging and not belonging, is an area of much research focus. Moreover, the label of “asylum seeker” can contribute to systemic “exclusion of a marginalised and abject group of people, precisely by employing a term that emphasises the suspended recognition of a community” (Nyers). Unsurprisingly, many refugees in Australia long for the connectedness of the lives they left behind relocated in the safe spaces where they live now.Eades focuses on an emic approach to understanding refugee/migrant distress, or trauma, which seeks to incorporate the worldview of the people in distress: essentially replicating the interpretive perspective taken in the research. This emic framing is adopted in place of the etic approach that seeks to understand the distress through a Western biomedical lens that is positioned outside the social/cultural system in which the distress is taking place. Eades argues: “developing an emic approach is to engage in intercultural dialogue, raise dilemmas, test assumptions, document hopes and beliefs and explore their implications”. Furthermore, Eades sees the challenge for service providers working with refugee/migrants in distress as being able to move beyond “harm minimisation” models of care “to recognition of a facilitative, productive community of people who are in a transitional phase between homelands”. This opens the door for studies concerning the notions of attachment to place and its links to resilience and a refugee’s ability to “settle in” (for example, Myers’s ground-breaking place-making work in Plymouth).Resilient PrecariousnessChaima: We feel […] good here, we’re safe, but when we sit together, we remember what we went through how my kids screamed when the bombs came, and we went out in the car. My son was 12 and I was pregnant, every time I remember it, I go back.Alongside the dreams that migrants have possible futures are the nightmares that threaten to destabilise their daily lives. As per the work of Xavier and Rosaldo, post-migration social life is recreated in two ways: the first through participation and presence in localised events; the second by developing relationships with absent others (family and friends) across the globe through media. These relationships, both distanced and at a distance, are dispersed through time and space. In light of this, Campays and Said suggest that places of past experiences and rituals for meaning are commonly recreated or reproduced as new places of attachment abroad; similarly, other recollections and experience can trigger a sense of fragility when “we remember what we went through”. Gupta and Ferguson suggest that resilience is defined by the migrant/refugee capacity to “reimagine and re-materialise” their lost heritage in their new home. This involves a sense of connection to the good things in the past, while leaving the bad things behind.Resilience has also been linked to the migrant’s/refugee’s capacity “to manage their responses to adverse circumstances in an interpersonal community through the networks of relationships” (Eades). Resilience in this case is seen through an intersubjective lens. Joseph reminds us that there is danger in romanticising community. Local communities may not only be hostile toward different national and ethnic groups, they may actively display a level of hostility toward them (Boswell). However, Gill maintains that “the reciprocal relations found in communities are crucially important to their [migrant/refugee] well-being”. This is because inclusion in a given community allows migrants/refugees to shrug off the outsider label, and the feeling of being at risk, and provides the opportunity for them to become known as families and friends. One of MAHR’s central aims was to help bridge the cultural divide between MARH users and the broader Australian community.Hope[01:06: 10] Sara (to interviewee, Aya): What’s the key to your success here in Australia?[01:06:12] Aya: The people, and how they treat us.[01:06:15] Sara (to Researcher): People and how they deal with us.[01:06:21] Aya: It’s the best thing when you look around, and see people who don’t understand your language but they help you.[01:06:28] Sara (to Researcher): She said – this is nice. I want to cry also. She said the best thing when I see people, they don’t understand your language, and I don’t understand theirs but they still smile in your face.[01:06:43] Aya: It’s the best.[01:06:45] Sara (to Aya): yes, yes, people here are angels. This is the best thing about Australia.Here, Sara is possibly shown to be taking liberties with the translation offered to the researcher, talking about how Australians “smile in your face”, when (according to the translator) Aya talked about how Australians “help”. Even so, the capacity for social connection and other aspects of sociality have been linked to a person’s ability to turn a negative experience into a positive cultural resource (Wilson). Resilience is understood in these cases as a strength-based practice where families, communities and individuals are viewed in terms of their capabilities and possibilities, instead of their deficiencies or disorders (Graybeal and Saleeby in Eades). According to Fozdar and Torezani, there is an “apparent paradox between high-levels of discrimination experienced by humanitarian migrants to Australia in the labour market and everyday life” (30) on the one hand, and their reporting of positive well-being on the other. That disparity includes accounts such as the one offered by Aya.As Wilson and Arvanitakis suggest,the interaction between negative experiences of discrimination and reports of wellbeing suggested a counter-intuitive propensity among refugees to adapt to and make sense of their migration experiences in unique, resourceful and life-affirming ways. Such response patterns among refugees and trauma survivors indicate a similar resilience-related capacity to positively interpret and derive meaning from negative migration experiences and associated emotions. … However, resilience is not expressed or employed uniformly among individuals or communities. Some respond in a resilient manner, while others collapse. On this point, an argument could be made that collapse and breakdown is a built-in aspect of resilience, and necessary for renewal and ongoing growth.Using this approach, Wilson and Arvanitakis have linked resilience to hope, as a “present- and future-oriented mode of situated defence against adversity”. They argue that the term “hope” is often utilised in a tokenistic way “as a strategic instrument in increasingly empty domestic and international political vocabularies”. Nonetheless, Wilson and Arvanitakis believe hope to be of vital academic interest due to the prevalence of war and suffering throughout the world. In the research reported here, the authors found that participants’ hopes were interwoven with dreams of being reunited with their families in a place of safety. This is a common longing. As Jackson states,so it is that migrants travel abroad in pursuit of utopia, but having found that place, which is also no-place (ou-topos), they are haunted by the thought that utopia actually lies in the past. It is the family they left behind. That is where they properly belong. Though the family broke up long ago and is now scattered to the four winds, they imagine a reunion in which they are together again. (223)There is a sense here that with their hopes and dreams lying in the past, refugees/migrants are living forward while looking backwards (a Kierkegaardian concept). If hope is thought to be key to resilience (Wilson and Arvanitakis), and key to an individual’s ability to live with a sense of well-being, then perhaps a refugee’s past relations (familial) impact both their present relations (social/community), and their ability to transform negative experiences into positive experiences. And yet, there is no readily accessible way in which migrants and refugees can recreate the connections that sustained them in the past. As Jackson suggests,the irreversibility of time is intimately connected with the irreversibility of one’s place of origin, and this entwined movement through time and across space proves perplexing to many migrants, who, in imagining themselves one day returning to the place from where they started out, forget that there is no transport which will convey them back into the past. … Often it is only by going home that is becomes starkly and disconcertingly clear that one’s natal village is no longer the same and that one has also changed. (221)The dream of home and family, therefore and the hope that this might somehow be recreated in the safety of the here and now, becomes a paradoxical loss and longing even as it is a constant companion for many on their refugee journey.Esma’s DreamAccording to author three, personal dreams are not generally discussed in Arab culture, even though dreams themselves may form part of the rich tradition of Arabic folklore and storytelling. Alongside issues of mental wellbeing, dreams are constructed as something private, and it generally breaks social taboos to describe them publicly. However, in personal discussions with other refugee women and men, and echoing Jackson’s finding, a recurring dream is “to meet my family in a safe place and not be worried about my safety or theirs”. As a refugee, the third author shares this dream. This is also the perspective articulated by Esma, who had recently had a fifth child and was very much missing her extended family who had died, been scattered as refugees, or were still living in a conflict zone. The researcher asked Sara to ask Esma about the best aspect of her current life:[01:17:03] Esma: The thing that comforts me here is nature, it’s beautiful.[01:17:15] Sara (to the Researcher): The nature.[01:17:16] Esma: And feeling safe.[01:17:19] Sara (to the Researcher): The safety. ...[01:17:45] Esma: Life’s beautiful here.[01:17:47] Sara (to the Researcher): Life is beautiful here.[01:17:49] Esma: But I want to know people, speak the language, have friends, life is beautiful here even if I don’t have my family here.[01:17:56] Sara (to the Researcher): Life is so pretty you only need to improve the language and have friends, she said I love my life here even though I don’t have any family or community here. (To Esma:) I am your family.[01:18:12] Esma: Bring me my siblings here.[01:18:14] Sara (to Esma): I just want my brothers here and my sisters.[01:18:17] Esma: It’s a dream.[01:18:18] Sara (to Esma): it’s a dream, one day it will become true.Here Esma uses the term dream metaphorically, to describe an imagined utopia: a dream world. In supporting Esma, who is mourning the absence of her family, Sara finds herself reacting and emoting around their shared experience of leaving siblings behind. In doing so, she affirms the younger woman, but also offers a hope for the future. Esma had previously made a suggestion, absorbed into her larger dream, but more achievable in the short term, “to know people, speak the language, have friends”. The implication here is that Esma is keen to find a way to connect with Australians. She sees this as a means of compensating for the loss of family, a realistic hope rather than an impossible dream.ConclusionInterviews with refugee families in a Perth-based migrant support centre reveals both the nightmare pasts and the dreamed-of futures of people whose lives have experienced a radical disruption due to war, conflict and other life-threatening events. Jackson’s work with migrants provides a context for understanding the power of the dream in helping to resolve issues around the irreversibility of time and circumstance, while Wilson and Arvanitakis point to the importance of hope and resilience in supporting the building of a positive future. Within this mix of the longed for and the impossible, both the refugee informants and the academic literature suggest that participation in local events, and authentic engagement with the broader community, help make a difference in supporting a migrant’s transition from dreaming to reality.AcknowledgmentsThis article arises from an ARC Linkage Project, ‘A Hand Up: Disrupting the Communication of Intergenerational Welfare Dependency’ (LP140100935), supported by the Australian Research Council, Partner Organisation St Vincent de Paul Society (WA) Inc., and Edith Cowan University. The authors are grateful to the anonymous staff and member of Vinnies’ Migrant and Refugee Homebase for their trust in and support of this project, and for their contributions to it.ReferencesBadiou, Alan. Saint Paul: The Foundation of Universalism. Trans. Ray Brassier. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2003.Boswell, Christina. “Burden-Sharing in the European Union: Lessons from the German and UK Experience.” Journal of Refugee Studies 16.3 (2003): 316–35.Burr, Vivien. Social Constructionism. 2nd ed. Hove, UK & New York, NY: Routledge, 2003.Campays, Philippe, and Vioula Said. “Re-Imagine.” M/C Journal 20.4 (2017). Aug. 2017 <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1250>.Crotty, Michael. The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process. St Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1998.Eades, David. “Resilience and Refugees: From Individualised Trauma to Post Traumatic Growth.” M/C Journal 16.5 (2013). Aug. 2013 <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/700>.Fozdar, Farida, and Silvia Torezani. “Discrimination and Well-Being: Perceptions of Refugees in Western Australia.” The International Migration Review 42.1 (2008): 1–34.Gill, Nicholas. “Longing for Stillness: The Forced Movement of Asylum Seekers.” M/C Journal 12.1 (2009). Mar. 2009 <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/123>.Graybeal, Clay. “Strengths-Based Social Work Assessment: Transforming the Dominant Paradigm.” Families in Society 82.3 (2001): 233–42.Green, Lelia, and Anne Aly. “Bastard Immigrants: Asylum Seekers Who Arrive by Boat and the Illegitimate Fear of the Other.” M/C Journal 17.5 (2014). Oct. 2014 <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/896>.Guba, Egon G., and Yvonna S. Lincoln. "Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research." Handbook of Qualitative Research 2 (1994): 163-194.Gupta, Akhil, and James Ferguson. “Beyond ‘Culture’: Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference.” Religion and Social Justice for Immigrants. Ed. Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo. New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 2006. 72-79.Jackson, Michael. The Wherewithal of Life: Ethics, Migration, and the Question of Well-Being. California: U of California P, 2013.Joseph, Miranda. Against the Romance of Community. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2002.Myers, Misha. “Situations for Living: Performing Emplacement." Research in Drama Education 13.2 (2008): 171-180. DOI: 10.1080/13569780802054828.Nyers, Peter. “Abject Cosmopolitanism: The Politics of Protection in the Anti-Deportation Movement.” Third World Quarterly 24.6 (2003): 1069–93.Saleeby, Dennis. “The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice: Extensions and Cautions.” Social Work 41.3 (1996): 296–305.Valibhoy, Madeleine C., Ida Kaplan, and Josef Szwarc. “‘It Comes Down to Just How Human Someone Can Be’: A Qualitative Study with Young People from Refugee Backgrounds about Their Experiences of Australian Mental Health Services.” Transcultural Psychiatry 54.1 (2017): 23-45.Wilson, Michael. Accumulating Resilience: An Investigation of the Migration and Resettlement Experiences of Young Sudanese People in the Western Sydney Area. Sydney: University of Western Sydney, 2012.Wilson, Michael John, and James Arvanitakis. “The Resilience Complex.” M/C Journal 16.5 (2013). <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/741>.Xavier, Johnathon, and Renato Rosaldo. “Thinking the Global.” The Anthropology of Globalisation. Eds. Johnathon Xavier and Renato Rosaldo. New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers, 2002.

goes viral after the September 11 tragedy, this book adds another scholarly work on how Muslims fared in the twentieth century Europe. The buzz word indicating anti-Islam rhetoric has become contagious particularly after the Runnymede Trust Report (1997) which resulted in many Muslims fearing for their lives. Post September 11 popularises such rhetoric. For various reasons, religion and race have indeed been the targets in this challenging civilised world. The book is timely given the current scenario where one will encounter readings which tend to portray a rather bias perspective on Muslims; Muslims as the group to be avoided, or the group with extreme religious fundamentalism. The stigmatised Muslim—to borrow Goffman’s term—has become a narrative of today’s world, in particular, the social media where the public is frequently exposed to such (negative) debates about Muslims and on being Muslims. As the editors rightly point out, “[a]cross Western Europe, public discourse has been suffused by claims about Muslims and Islam. These claims are negative” (p. 1). Comprising eleven chapters, this book is a result of thorough research on how Muslims and non-Muslims in the European states embrace their daily lives in various institutions including schools, courts, hospitals, the military, electoral politics, and the labour market. Through a blend of practical schemas of others, the narrative unfolds stories of diverse people in their chosen realms. Readers are also exposed to comparative views of civic education courses in France and Germany. Multiculturalism in Europe and elsewhere is indeed challenging. The book content speaks volumes. The (in)tolerance of religious beliefs and practices might escalate into endless debates which either favour the state or the believers; for instance, in the case of wearing headscarves among female Muslims. The editors acknowledge this in the very first line of the preface that the book “...responds to the often loud debates about the place of Muslims in Western Europe” (p. i), and in the second paragraph on the 2004 ban wearing the veil in public schools in France. In so doing, the chapters skillfully embrace the discourse of practical schemas of those who are labelled as Muslims in a fast-changing Europe. The four book editors come from diverse backgrounds; for sure, two of the editors specialise in Islam and have done rather extensive research on Muslims. Bowen is Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis where he studies Islam and society in Indonesia and Europe. Bertossi is director of the Centre for Migration and Citizenship at the French Institute for International Relations in Paris. Of the other two editors, Duyvendak focuses on urban sociology and nativism, whilst Krook is Associate Professor of Political Science. She studies electoral gender quotas in cross-national perspective. Through their collaborative effort,and insights based on fieldwork and policy analysis, the discourse on perceptions and boundaries by the actors, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, are unfolded. The book is divided into two parts, with the first part exposing readers to the practical schemas in everyday institutional life. The second part discusses institutions and national political ideologies. In the first part, contributors presents practical schemas of people in various institutions including hospitals in France and Germany, as sites of cultural confrontation and integration that is illustrated in Chapter Two. The following chapter discusses how schools in France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany fared and blended in with the Muslims, and poses the readers with a challenging question, “how the school should reflect society” (p. 59). Meanwhile, the Military in France is explored in Chapter Four; the title is rather throught-provoking given that it is framed as a question: French “Muslim” Soldiers? The military, being the military as argued by the contributor (Bertossi himself), “de-emphasizes any ethno-cultural, racial, or religious identities of civilians” when they become soldiers (p. 73). French schools, hospitals, and the relevant practical schemas are revisited in Chapter Five. In the second part, the courtroom scenario leads us to the juridical framings of Muslims and Islam in France and Germany (Chapter 6). Embedded elements include how judges enact their daily roles in decision making through the acts of marriage and adaptation to religious freedom. Chapter Seven exposes readers to the comparative analysis of the civic education course content in France and Germany whilst Chapter Eight examines minorities in electoral politics in Sweden, France and Britain. Chapter Nine deals with the Scandinavian headscarf debates in public and private institutions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The exclusion of Muslims in the Netherlands is explored in Chapter Ten. It is interesting to observe how the contributors guide us to the discourse of “neoculturalism”, which they argue, is “to identify a form of cultural protectionism, representing the world as divided into different, inimical cultures, and to distinguish this way of thinking from forms of cultural relativism” (p. 235). Here, we are exposed to the complicated scenario of “multiculturalism” in the country as I posited earlier. The binary perspective adopted by the Netherlands, between the “Dutch values” and the “Islamic values”, can escalate the tension caused by multiculturalism. One might have to further fine-tune the meaning of such a word in the current world where social media can help to propagate both good and bad intentions. I find this book an eye-opener to the discourse on perceptions and boundaries where Muslims in particular are involved, which are delicate and complicated to understand for any person who is not exposed to, or experience racism, and Islamophobia. Such acts of racism and Islamophobia are embedded in institutions as existing contexts of enactments and national ideologies as claimed by the editors in Chapter One and later reinforced in Chapter Five. They posit that in such non-homogeneous institutions, “actors develop practical schemas about Muslims and Islam”. The practical schemas, in turn, are constantly being reshaped and re-weighted by the events. In this sense, how we should embrace diversity in the name of multiculturalism, voiced often by many countries, for example, Malaysia, Singapore, and Britain; in particular, the United States, need further deliberation. It seems to me that in the deliberation, both parties, the authority and the people affected (Muslims), must partake in easing the tension and constraints. As the editors clearly articulate in the concluding chapter, institutions differ by token, by functions and by the contexts they are in. Obviously, there is no easy answer to comprehend the complex situations faced by the countries cited in the book; this is clearly made known by Bowen and associates. They have argued that “it is through the public institutions that citizens experience the state” (p. 266). Sensitivities weave in among the people (citizens) they spoke with, between duties to the states and to religion. This, in turn, brings us to the question of nation-building which seems to be an endless debate. In this regard, Mustafa Ishak’s book entitled, The Politics of Bangsa Malaysia: Nation-Building in a Multiethnic Society (2014) is worth reading for those who want to know more about Malaysian politics given the multicultural setting and Islam as the official religion. How do we tolerate diversity in the name of multiculturalism with people confessing different religious beliefs and ways of practising such beliefs while at the same time conform to the national ideologies and idea of being complete citizens? I find that in this context, the editors have managed to highlight the so-called tensions or tug-of-war between such competing needs. Arguably, it is fairly evident in the title with the use of “European States” and the possessive pronoun “their Muslim Citizens”, as it also suggests a sense of belonging for both sides though the book title is a bit wordy. The book contributors are rather courageous to discuss the issues given the depth of understanding and sensitivity required of the subject matter. Perhaps, more is needed in deliberating the idea which calls for a concerted effort from all parties involved. To be sure, those discussing the Muslims must have sufficient knowledge about Islam and its practices.

Over time, many groups have sought to offer alternatives to the dominant culture of the day; for example, the civil-rights movements, antiwar protests, and environmental activism of the 1960s and 1970s. Not all groupings however can be considered countercultural. Roberts makes a distinction between group culture where cultural patterns only influence part of one’s life, or for a limited period of time; and countercultures that are more wholistic, affecting all of life. An essential element in defining a counterculture is that it has a value-conflict with the dominant society (Yinger), and that it demonstrates viability over time: long enough to pass on the values to the next generation (Roberts). Each society has images of what it means to be a good citizen. These images are driven by ideology and communicated through media channels, educational values and government legislation. Ideologies are not neutral and compete for the “common sense” of citizens; seeking to shape desires and allegiance to a particular way of life. A way of life is expressed in the everyday practices, or routines and choices that make up an ordinary day, the sum of which express the values of individuals and communities. A number of groups or movements have sought to counter the values and practices of dominant cultures only to find themselves absorbed into it. For example, the surfing magazine Tracks was an Australian countercultural text that chronicled the authentic surfing lifestyle of the 1970s. As surfing became big business, the same magazine was transformed into a glossy lifestyle publication. The surfing lifestyle had become part of the expanding field of consumption and Tracks had become one more tool to promote it (Henderson). As the “counter” is absorbed into the dominant consumer culture, new ways to engage the hegemonic culture emerge that offer fresh possibilities of living and engaging in contemporary society. Positioning I hold to a critical postmodern perspective of consumption. That is, while I acknowledge some of the pleasures of consumption, I see a dominant posture of detachment as a result of consumer cultures increased distance from production, producers and the products we buy (Cavanaugh; Sandlin, Kahn, Darts and Tavin). The market is a powerful educator of individuals (Kincheloe; Steinberg), but it is not the only educator. Families, schools, churches and other interest groups also seek to educate, or shape, individuals. These competing influences do not however hold equal power. In many instances the families, schools, churches and interest groups have uncritically adopted the dominant ideology of the market and so reinforce the values of consumerism; such is its hegemonic power. I hold that individuals, and more importantly communities, have some agency to consume in alternative ways that give rise to the formation of different identities. I see critical practices as important in the awareness raising, or awakeness, and shaping of an individual and a community (Freire; Rautins and Ibrahim). Contemporary Cultures Consumption has become the organizing principle of many contemporary cultures (Hoechsmann). The message that to be a good citizen is to be a good consumer is pervasive and promoted as key to economic growth and the remedy to lift countries out of recession. This message of consumption falls on fertile ground with the development of consumerism, or consumer culture. Smart (5) sees this expressed as a way of life that is “perpetually preoccupied with the pursuit, possession, rapid displacement, and replacement of a seemingly inexhaustible supply of things.” These “things” have increasingly become luxury goods and services as opposed to the satisfaction of basic needs and wants (de Geus). Contemporary Alternatives There are examples of contemporary alternatives that open spaces for people to imagine that “another world is possible.” Sandlin, Kahn, Darts and Tavin (102, 103) call upon educators to “critically analyze what it might mean to resist a consumer society predicated on the normalization of overconsumption” and to “celebrate the creative and critical agency of all those who resist and interrogate the hegemony of multinational companies/industries.” A number of examples are worth celebrating and critically analysing to offer input in the engagement with the dominant culture of consumption. The examples of the Adbusters Media Foundation, Bill Talen’s work as a political-theatre activist, and the voluntary simplicity movement will be briefly examined before exploring the contribution of monasticism. The Adbusters Media Foundation produces a glossy bimonthly publication and website that seeks to unmask the destructive power of global corporations. Through the use of cultural resistance techniques such as “culture jamming,” Adbusters remix advertisements to catch the reader by surprise, to make the taken for granted problematic, and to open them to the possibility of an alternative view of reality. These “subvertisements” offer the opportunity for detournement; a turning around or a change in perspective (Darts; Sandlin and Callahan). As people get involved in “culture jamming” they become producers of artifacts and not just consumers of them. The work of Adbusters uses the tools of the media saturated consumer culture to critique that very culture (Rumbo). Advertising performs an ideological function within a consumer culture that addresses people as individual private consumers rather than citizens concerned for the public good (Scatamburlo-D’Annibale). Given the ubiquity of advertising, individuals become ambivalent to its messages but still soak in the dominant narrative. The very form of resistance reinforces the culture of the individualistic citizen as consumer. While it might be seen that the “culture jamming” artifacts of the Adbusters type might not have substantial effect on the broader public, it does provide an accessible means of resistive action for the individual (Haiven). Bill Talen is a political-theatre activist who plays the Southern evangelical preacher Reverend Billy as leader of the Church of Stop Shopping. The Reverend stages “retail interventions” or performances in public spaces and retail stores as an act of “culture jamming”. Reverend Billy uses humour, music, art and theatre in his “services” to create strangeness, discomfort or ambiguity in the lives of the public. In doing so he calls people into transitional spaces where what was normal is disrupted and they are free to imagine differently. This disruption that causes a movement into the unknown is a central pedagogical strategy that seeks to encourage people to question their taken for granted understandings of life (Littler; Sandlin, Learning). Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping offer a fuller bodied experience of “culture jamming” that engages both the body and the emotions. The act of creating culture together is what fosters a sense of community amongst culture jammers (Sandlin, Popular culture). And yet Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping appear not to be focused for their own good in that they have formed a number of coalitions with other organisations to work on campaigns that oppose global corporations and the influence of consumerism’s ideology on everyday life. Reverend Billy not only creates disruption in people’s relationship with consumption, he also provides an alternative place to belong. The voluntary simplicity movement involves a growing number of people who choose to limit their incomes and consumption because of new priorities in life. Those involved call into question the dominant cultures view of the “good life” in favour of a less materialistic lifestyle that is more “personally fulfilling, spiritually enlightening, socially beneficial, and environmentally sustainable” (Johnson 527). Grigsby’s research (qtd. in Johnson) found that participants were involved in forming their own identities through their lifestyle choices. The voluntary simplicity movement, it appears, is a niche for those who understand consumption from a postmodern perspective and participate in alternative lifestyle practices. Sandlin (Complicated) sees the formation of collective identity as crucial to a movement’s ability to effectively engage in external education. A shared vision, or telos, is central to that forming of collective identity. However, the voluntary simplicity movement is focused primarily on individual lifestyle changes, thus making it ineffectual as a collective to challenge dominant ideologies or to engage in external education to that end. Each of the examples above provides some insight into a considered engagement with the dominant culture: the creation of Adbuster like “culture jamming” artifacts provides an accessible means of engagement for the individual; Bill Talen’s interventions show an appreciation of the importance of community in supporting countercultural choices; and the voluntary simplicity movement promotes a “whole of life” approach to countercultural engagement. However, when comparing the above examples with Roberts’s definition of a counterculture they appear to be lacking. Roberts (121) holds that “the term counter-culture might best be reserved for groups which are not just a reaction formation to the dominant society, but which have a supporting ideology that allows them to have a relatively self-sufficient system of action.” The remainder of this article examines monasticism as an example of a counter-culture that offers an alternative model of “the good-life” based on a clear ideology and a fifteen hundred year history. Considering Monasticism As seen above, the work of countering the dominant ideology is not without its difficulties. bell hooks found that offering an education that enhances students’ journey to wholeness went against the anti-intellectualism of the current education system. What enabled her to stand within and resist the oppressive dominant culture, and offer alternatives, was the sustaining power of spirituality in her life, the basis of her hope. Tolliver and Tisdell appreciate that spirituality can be an elusive term, but that amongst the definitions offered there are commonalities. These are that: spirituality is about a connection to what is referred to by various names, such as the Life Force, God, a higher power or purpose, Great Spirit, or Buddha Nature. It is about meaning making and a sense of wholeness, healing and the interconnectedness of all things. […] As many have noted, those who value spirituality generally believe that it is possible for learners to come to a greater understanding of their core essence through transformative learning experiences that help them reclaim their authenticity. (Tolliver and Tisdell 38) There is a growing interest in the age-old traditions of Christian monasticism as a means of addressing the challenges of contemporary life (Adams; Jamison). When the BBC broadcast the television series The Monastery in 2005, millions of viewers tuned in to follow the way five ordinary men were affected by the experience of living in a monastery for forty days and nights. Similarly in Australia in 2007, the ABC broadcast the television series The Abbey that followed the experiences of five ordinary women enclosed for 33 days and nights in the space and routines of the Benedictine nuns at Jamberoo Abbey. It was when watching these television series that I was led to consider monasticism as an example of cultural resistance, and to ponder the contribution it might make to the conversation around counter-cultures. As an observer, I find something compelling about monasticism, however I am aware of the possibility of romanticising it as a way of life. The tensions, difficulties and struggles represented in the television series help to temper that. Benedictine spirituality is the foundation for life at the Worth Abbey (The Monastery) and the Jamberoo Abbey (The Abbey). The essential dynamic that underlies this spirituality is a shaping of life according to the Bible and the guidelines set out in the sixth century Rule of Benedict. Monastic life in a Benedictine abbey is marked by certain routines, or rhythms, that are designed to help the community better love God, self and one another (Benedict, chapter 4). “Listen” is the first word in the Rule of Benedict and is closely linked to silence (Benedict, chapter 6). As a key part of monastic life, silence gives the monastics the freedom and space to listen to God, themselves, one another, and the world around them. As Adams (18) points out, “the journey to knowing God must include the discipline of coming to know yourself, and that risky journey invariably starts in silence.” The rhythm of monastic life therefore includes times in the day for silence and solitude to facilitate listening and self-reflection. For Benedict, distractions in the head are actually noises inside the heart: the result of human desires and preoccupations. Silence, and the reflection that occurs within it, allows the monastic to listen for, and see their own relationship to, competing ideologies. This everyday practice of listening might be explained as paying attention to what is noticed, reflecting on it and the internal response to it. In this way listening is an active engagement with the words read (Irvine), the stories heard, the conversations had, and the objects used. Hoffman (200) observes that this practice of attentive listening is evident in decision making within the monastery. Seen in this way, silence acts as a critical practice counter to the educative agenda of consumerism. Physical work is a basic part of monastic life. All members of the community are expected to share the load so that there is no elitism, no avoiding work. This work is not to be seen as a burden but an outlet for creativity (Benedict, chapter 57). By being involved in the production of goods or the growing of crops for the community and others, monastics embody practices that resist the individual consumer identity that consumerism seeks to create. Monastics also come to appreciate the work involved in the products they create and so become more appreciative of, and place greater value on them. Material things are not privately owned but are to be seen as on loan so that they are treated with a level of gratitude and care (Benedict, chapter 32). This attitude of not taking things for granted actually increases the enjoyment and appreciation of them (De Waal). De Waal likens this attitude to the respect shown towards people and things at the Japanese tea ceremony. She says that “here in the most simple and yet profound ceremony there is time to gaze at things, to enjoy them, and to allow them to reveal themselves as they truly are” (87). Such a listening to what products truly are in the dominant consumer culture might reveal chairs made from the denuded forests that destroy habitats, or shoes made with child labour in unsafe conditions. The monastic involvement in work and their resulting handling of material things is a critical practice counter to the ideology of consumerism and the attitude towards products flooding markets today. Community is central to monastic life (Veilleux). Through vows, the monastic commits to life in a particular place with particular people. The commitment to stability means that when conflict arises or disagreements occur they need to be worked out because there is no running away. Because a commitment to working things out requires attention to what is real, monastic community acts as a counter of all that is not real. The creation of false need, the promise of fulfilment, and the creation of identity around consumption can be viewed through the same commitment to reality. This external stability is a reflection of inner stability marked by a unity and coherence of purpose and life (De Waal). A monastic community is formed around a shared telos that gives it a collective identity. While people are welcomed as guests into the community with Benedictine hospitality, the journey to becoming a member is intentionally difficult (Benedict, chapter 58). The importance of committing to community and the sharing of the collective telos is not a rushed decision. The stability and permanence of monastic commitment to community is a counter to the perpetual chasing and replacing of other goods and experiences that is a part of consumerism. The deliberate attention to practices that form a rhythm of life involving the whole person shows that monastic communities are intentional in their own formation. Prayer and spiritual reading are key parts of monastic life that demonstrate that spirituality is central in the formation of individuals and communities (Benedict, prologue). The formation is aligned to a particular ideology that values humanity as being made in the image of God and therefore the need to focus on the connection with God. A holistic humanity addresses issues and development of the mind, body and spirit. Examining Ideology The television series The Monastery and The Abbey demonstrate that when guests enter a monastic community they are able to experience an alternative model of “the good life”. If, as Roberts suggests, a counter-culture looks to reform society by providing an alternative model, then change is based upon seeing the alternative. The guests in the monastic community are involved in discussions that make explicit the monastic ideology and how it shapes the countercultural values and practices. In doing so, the guests are invited to listen to, or examine the consumerist ideology that permeates their society and shapes their everyday experiences. In evaluating the conflicting ideologies, the guests are free to choose an alternative view, which, as the television series showed are not necessarily that of the monastic community, and may in fact remain that of consumerism. Conclusion While ideologies are not neutral, they are often invisible. The dominant ideology of consumerism reduces citizens to individualistic consumers and naturalises the need for never ending consumption. A number of groups or movements attempt to expose the logic of consumerism and offer alternative ways of consuming. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses; some are absorbed into the very culture they seek to counter while others remain apart. Christian monasticism, based on the Bible and the Rule of Benedict, engages in the social practices of listening, physical work, and commitment to community. The formation of individuals, and the community, is based explicitly on an ideology that values humanity as made in God’s image. This model has stood the test of time and shown itself to be a legitimate counterculture that is in value-conflict with the current dominant culture of consumption. References Adams, Ian. Cave, Refectory, Road. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2010. Benedict and Patrick Barry. Saint Benedict’s Rule. Mahweh, New Jersey: Hidden Spring, 2004. Cavanaugh, William. Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2008. Darts, David. “Visual Culture Jam: Art, Pedagogy, and Creative Resistance.” Studies in Art Education 45 (2004):313–327. De Geus, Marius. “Sustainable Hedonism: The Pleasures of Living within Environmental Limits.” The Politics and Pleasures of Consuming Differently. Eds. Kate Soper, Martin Ryle, and Lyn Thomas. London: Palgrave MacMillian. 2009. 113–129 De Waal, Esther. Seeking God: The Way of St Benedict. London: Fount, 1996. Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London: Penguin, 1970. Grigsby, Mary. Buying Time and Getting By: The Voluntary Simplicity Movement. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2004. Haiven, Max. “Privatized Resistance: AdBusters and the Culture of Neoliberalism.” The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 29 (2007): 85–110. Henderson, Margaret. “The Big Business of Surfing’s Oceanic Feeling: Thirty Years of Tracks Magazine.” Growing Up Postmodern: Neoliberalism and the War on the Young. Ed. Ronald Strickland. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002. 141–167 hooks, Bell. Teaching Community. New York: Routledge, 2003. Hoechsmann, Michael. “Rootlessness, Reenchantment, and Educating Desire: A Brief History of the Pedagogy of Consumption.” Critical Pedagogies of Consumption. Eds. Jennifer Sandlin & Peter McLaren. New York: Routledge, 2010. 23–35. Hoffman, Mary. “Ora et Labora (Prayer and Work): Spirituality, Communication and Organizing in Religious Communities”. JCR 30 (2007): 187–212. Irvine, R. D.G. “How to Read: Lectio Divina in an English Benedictine Monastery”. Culture and Religion 11.4 (2010):395–411. Jamison, Christopher. Finding Sanctuary. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006. Johnson, Brett. “Simply Identity Work? The Voluntary Simplicity Movement.” Qualitative Sociology 24.4 (2004): 527–530. Kincheloe, Joe. “Consuming the All-American Corporate Burger: McDonald’s “Does It All for You”. Critical Pedagogies of Consumption. Eds. Jennifer Sandlin & Peter McLaren. New York: Routledge, 2010. 137–147. Littler, Jo. “Beyond the Boycott: Anti-Consumerism, Cultural Change and the Limits of Reflexivity”. Cultural Studies 19.2 (2005): 227–252. Rautins, Cara, and Awad Ibrahim. “Wide-Awakeness: Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Imagination, Humanism, Agency, and Becoming.” International Journal of Critical Pedagogy 3.3 (2011): 24–36.Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. 2014. 26 Nov. 2014 ‹http://www.revbilly.com›. Roberts, Keith. “Toward a Generic Concept of Counter-Culture.” Sociological Focus 11.2 (1978): 111–126. Rumbo, Joseph. “Consumer Resistance in a World of Advertising Clutter: The Case of Adbusters”. Psychology & Marketing 19.2 (2002): 127–148. Sandlin, Jennifer. “Popular Culture, Cultural Resistance, and Anticonsumption Activism: An Exploration of Culture Jamming as Critical Adult Education.” New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 115 (2007): 73–82. Sandlin, Jennifer. “Complicated Simplicity: Moral Identity Formation and Social Movement Learning in the Voluntary Simplicity Movement.” Adult Education Quarterly 59.4 (2009): 298–317. Sandlin, Jennifer. “Learning to Survive the ‘Shopocalypse’: Reverend Billy’s Anti-Consumption ‘Pedagogy of the Unknown’.” Critical Studies in Education 51.3 (2010): 295–311. Sandlin, Jennifer, and Jamie Callahan. “Deviance, Dissonance, and Detournement.” Journal of Consumer Culture 9.1 (2009): 79–115. Sandlin, Jennifer, Richard Kahn, David Darts, and Kevin Tavin. “To Find the Cost of Freedom: Theorizing and Practicing a Critical Pedagogy of Consumption.” Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 7.2 (2009): 98–123. Scatamburlo-D’Annibale, V. “Beyond the Culture Jam.” Critical Pedagogies of Consumption. Eds. Jennifer Sandlin & Peter McLaren. New York: Routledge, 2010. 224–236. Smart, Barry. Consumer Society: Critical Issues and Environmental Consequences. London: Sage, 2010. Steinberg, Shirley. “Barbie: The Bitch Can Buy Anything.” Critical Pedagogies of Consumption. Eds. Jennifer Sandlin & Peter McLaren. New York: Routledge, 2010. 148–156. Tolliver, Derise, and Elizabeth Tisdell. “Engaging Spirituality in the Transformative Higher Education Classroom.” New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 109 (2006): 37–47. Veilleux, Armand. “Identity with Christ: Modeling our Lives on RB 72.” Cistercian Studies Quarterly 45.1 (2010):13–33. Yinger, Milton. “Contraculture and Subculture.” American Sociological Review 25 (1960): 625–635.