Research cluster C7: Interethnic relations, identity, representation and discrimination
Cluster C7 deals with relations between national, ethnic, `racial’, religious and cultural groups in multiethnic societies. In some countries this will primarily entail a focus on majority–minority relations (ethnoterritorial, linguistic, religious, cultural minorities) in the nation state. In other countries, countries of immigration, the focus will rather be on relations between native-born populations and migrants and their descendents (first and second generation) as well as between different migrant groups. In a third set of countries, probably most of the present 25 EU members states, interethnic relations will apply to ethnocultural and ethnoterritorial minority–majority relations as well as relations between groups of migrant origin and native populations. In the IMISCOE context the term interethnic relations covers a broad range of encounters between people and groups of diverse origins that take place in European societies of immigration. Often the emphasis is on problematic dimensions or aspects of these relations – racism, social exclusion, discrimination, segregation, inequality and injustice. However, interethnic relations should also be understood to include processes of incorporation and acculturation often referred to as assimilation, integration etc., as well as various aspects of diversity management.
Cluster 7 is essentially concerned with how migration and integration affects the social and geographical space o f the receiving (multiethnic) society, across social class and gender.
In the first work package the cluster focused on its various sub themes (identity, interethnic relations, discrimination) discussing basic concepts, historical legacies and current debates, theories, methodology and measurement, European added value and new research questions.
It was formulated as of utmost importance to focus on the institutional structures of racism and discrimination, and to uncover the kind of concealed social structures that generate and perpetuate unequal opportunities.
In the second work package the cluster started work on a book that:
a. Links the thematics of identity, ethnicity, discrimination and representation
b. Brings in country specific data and experiences
c. Aims at a general theoretical conclusion and European applicability
d. Is to be written in such a way that the volume could serve as a standard textbook for training courses (summer schools) that will develop as a fourth work package.
Another task formulated in the second work package was to set up a digital library of the work of each of the cluster members in terms of one page summaries of earlier work.
In the third work package two streams convened separately: identity/ethnicity and discrimination. The cluster finalised a book on identity and ethnicity and prepared a proposal on research on discrimination. The clusters also prepared:
* A European comparative study of recruitment processes in the labour market.
* Victim studies, subjective experiences of discrimination in the labour market, in employment, in housing, in education, in public spaces.
* Developing a methodology of indicators of discrimination, possibly within the field of education.
