Transnational mobilities and Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Transnational mobilities and Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Social Sciences Reproduction of Social Inequalities: Mobile families, children in Hungary Vera Messing, PhD (joint project with Zs. Arendas and N. Katona) Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Sociology Institute; Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Centre for Policy Studies-. DIW, Brown Bag Seminar, 13th March, 2019, Berlin

 Really recent focus. Prior to 2015 migration has been of minor importance. In 2015, the refugee crisis and the attached manipulative political propaganda of the governing party put migration as a key topic in the agenda, in a negative way.  2015 came as a shock, with several hundred thousand refugees Political- reaching and entering the country. Hungary was unable (and unwilling?) to manage the inflow of refugees. economic  Immigration is historically minor; always below 2%, the majority context ethnic Hungarians from neighbouring countries.  Hu is mainly a mono-cultural, mono-ethnic (with the exception of Roma/Gypsy and Jewish minority) and religiously also rather homogeneous society.  Immigration is still minor, only 1,6% of the total population (2017), ¾ ethnic Hungarians from neighboring states.

 Difficulties of defining who is an emigrant (are circular migrant, those who spend less than 12 month, those who commute?)  Outgoing migration: insignificant after 1989 and – contrary to other post communist states - remained so till the mid 2000nd. Political-  More recently, Hungary catches up with other CEE countries landmarks- 2008 world economic crisis and its effects inside Hu, economic 2011 removal of restrictions on the German and Austrian labor markets and narrowing political freedom. context:  Appr. 350 000 worked abroad in 2016 (Hárs- Simon 2017), but emigration approx. half of them returns after some time. Some estimate a higher number of emigrants reaching 0,5 million.  Major target countries: Germany (32%), Austria (27%), Uk (17%).  Political and public discrouse is minor about the phenomenon inspite its great impact on the economy and society

Number of Hungarians moving abroad by year (flow data) Data by HSO and the mirror statistics

Number of foreign employees (in thousand) 2010-14 in Germany and the extent of change 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 % of change Poland 125 140 201 241 291 133% Hungary 17 19 33 49 65 282% Romania 46 55 71 89 132 187% Bulgaria 19 22 28 35 54 184% Source: Lakatos 2015, based on the German Labour Office statistics 2014

 Circular migrants and emigrants from Hungary, overrepresentation of man leaving behind families (physical workers, transport, construction).  Young, Highly educated (the odds of a person with tertiary education is 4 compared to elementary educated) and those with certain vocational training (i.e. construction industry) New forms of  Women, working in care-work (typically in Austria, Germany, or Italy) in informal care sector: these women are typically single and young or family elderly, and passed the stage of raising children, though may have family-members left behind (husband, grandchildren). migration  The number of families migrating, mainly within EU, is on a rise in the past 5-6 years. There is little research on this phenomenon, yet.  Increasing difficulties in the home country:  Lack of workforce (it is estimated that appr. 300 th open positions are not filled) especially in high skilled jobs (medicine, engineers) and construction.  Affect on families and children.

 Focus on how migration affects children and their families. This is a new research terrain in Hungary.  Aim: to study changing family models, gender roles, perceptions CIRKMIG of migration and how migration affects values and attitudes of research those involved.  Aim: to study how migration affects children and how institutions project at the of child care and education meat the challenge of migrant HAS, children´s integration.  Research antecedent locally: Sociology  Judit Durst, TündeVirág on Roma`s migration, Institute  Attila Melegh on care-work, gendered migration and changing form of mobility.  Nemeth on ‚Child voice’, transnational experience of children, changing forms and norms

 Negative consequences of migration on left behind children (Hochschild); well-being of children and families approach  Social stigmatization of women leaving behind children Transnational (Sorensen-Vammen) families and  ‚social field’ (Levitt and Glick Schiller, 2004)- social relations connecting people and places, complexity: multiple attachments, children: parallel identities between sending and receiving contexts theoretical  Analysis of power relations and hierarchies context  Transnational habitus (Vertovec) based on Bourdieu’s habitus concept  A kind of behaviour which helps in adopting to different lifestyles, places, contexts, and people (Werbner 1999, 2008)

 Research in Romania, 85 thousand such children in 2011, 16-18% of them had both parents abroad (OSI Romania)- health and Schooling of educational attainment of children mobile  Polish data 2014, 20% of age-group 10-19 has parents working abroad (‚Euro orphans’) children and  UK research (Zeitl and Mand, 2012) two schools in London, children left innovative methods, involved in childrens’ activities behind:  REF research: how Roma children migrating from the Czech Republic integrated in the UK school system. (institutional regional response) context  Child-focused, new perspectives (Nemeth, 2017)

Three level research: macro-, mezo-, and microlevel. 1. Quantitative analysis of available data sources:  Analysis of micro-census data (Hungarian Statistical Office, 2016) about migration trends and characteristics of population affected;  Analysis of data at receiving countries i.e. Germany (SOEP), and maybe GB at a later stage about migrant families’ socio-economic, labor market, housing status and the children’s well-being; about attitudes and values, where available. Methods 2. School survey: about the extent of migration as recognized by schools; how do schools respond to the challenges posed by immigration, circular migration and returning migrant children. 3. Qualitative methods: interviews with families; innovative methods to hear the child’s voice; interviews with schools and other stakeholders. Participatory art-based methods with children

Starting point: schools, where migrant and returning children are overrepresented In the pilot phase we approached several schools, but were able to conduct interviews in three school: in Budapest, in Pecs (SW of Hungary) and in the North Easter city of Miskolc over two months. Highly diverse settings:  Budapest school: bi-lingual middle class school hosting a large number of migrant children (mostly Chinese and Vietnamese) and Pilot research returning Hungarian children from middle class families.  Pecs: low SES school in a low-middle class part of the city, serving a heterogeneous student community.  Miskolc school: segregated school for children of marginalized, mostly Roma families. The lowest SES families living in dire circumstances. Migration is a last attempt and hope for survival. Interviews with teachers and headmasters. Interviews with childen

Bilingual school in Budapest

 Bilingual school (Hungarian- English), mixed but mainly middle class school with a high presence of mobile children and left behind children, also with kids of foreign migrant background (Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Armenian…)  Mobile children: Hungarian return migrants from the US, Canada, Asia.  Upper-middle class children, parents working in diplomacy, or children with high Case study of a cultural capital (univ teacher parent)  Left-behind children: Lower-middle class, father works in health care in the UK, bilingual breaking up families, divorces school in  Problems from a teacher perspective: mismatch of the curriculum, lexical knowledge demanded in the HU education system vs project-based creative Budapest teaching in W Europe.  No systematic methods or pedagogical tools either for the social inclusion of migrant or returning migrant children, nor for catching up in the curriculum.  ‚each child is different’ approach still, diversity remains unreflected.  Social reintegration of children: left on their own, ‚depends on their own personality’

 Migration brought about gains for most of the children: i.e. proficiency in a foreign language, improvement of multicultural skills, better adaptation skills, improved autonomy and self- confidence.  “ … we see things differently than others; from a different perspective. ” (student in 7 th grade) Case: bilingual  “I respect all people in a way. I see that they are also humans ” school in (student in the 6 th grade) Budapest:  Different attitudes towards ethnic and religious diversity compared to those without migration experience. School responses  Teachers mainly neutral to migration : such experience is not represented as a gain or a loss either on individual level (how such kids know more/know something differently) or on school level. Teachers don´t incorporate the knowledge these kids bring in into the classroom and teaching.