Imaginary friends: migrants' emotional accounts about friends outside Australia

Migration can have emotional costs for migrants, whose face‐to‐face friendships are ruptured. This article explores the ways that migrants managed their emotions towards old friends after migration. Excerpts from semi‐structured interviews with 20 skilled migrants are analysed to show the stoic, fantasy and disengagement accounts used to deal with ruptured relationships. Each account demonstrates a different type of emotion work, which assisted migrants to cope with the loss of friends. The article discusses how the ways that migrants thought about their friends were affected by structural aspects such as geographic and temporal distance, and normative expectations such as the obligation for the migrant to return home. The article provides insight into the personal costs of migration and highlights the loss and coping that can follow, whilst demonstrating the complexity of friendship over time and geographic distance.     

参照群体、相对位置与微观分配公平感:都市户籍移民与流动人口的比较分析

本文详细考察和比较了都市户籍移民和流动人口分配公平感形塑过程中参照群体选择及相对位置效应的内在逻辑,揭示了社会比较机制的具体作用机理。研究发现,在报告分配公平感时,户籍身份成为都市移民选择参照对象的制度性基础,拥有都市户口者方可成为户籍移民的参照对象,而流动人口的参照群体更为开放和多元,倾向于与所有都市常住居民进行比较。与此同时,即便考虑到社会网络结构、迁移时长、迁移世代等因素,结论仍具稳健性,来源地居民均不会被二者视为参照群体。另一方面,实证结果显示,相对位置距离对分配公平感的形塑作用之于户籍移民和流动人口并无显著差异,同时呈现非对称性特征：参照优势地位者体现了“平等主义”心态,参照劣势地位者则表现出“损失厌恶”的特征;相对位置距离的拉大给参照劣势者因损失带来的厌恶情绪大于参照优势者因获益而产生的满足感知。     

Policy agendas and immigration in Australia 1996 –2012

Immigration in Australia is inherently a controversial topic. Events such as the MV Tampa affair cause increased media and legislative attention but increased legislative attention in the policy area do not always follow such dramatic events. We analyse media and legislative attention in the area of immigration and show increased activity in parliament around both dramatic events discussed in the media and also over more technical issues. Increased attention within parliament sometimes occurs outside of the gaze of the media.     

Migrant remittance flow: challenges and motivations in Isiekenesi Southern Nigeria

The study examined challenges of sending remittances and factors that motivate migrants to send remittances to Isiekenesi. Survey research design was adopted for the study. Using multi-stage sampling method for the quantitative data of the study, 402 questionnaires were distributed to the study participants and 395 were retrieved; 17 interviews and three focus group discussions (qualitative data) were conducted. Insecurity, the high cost of the transfer of remittances, lack of social amenities and so on were noted as challenges that undermine the flow of remittances to Isiekenesi. Factors that motivate migrants to send remittances to Isiekenesi are the desire to improve the family living standard, improved security in the home country, the need for recognition and the economic situation of the home country among others. Finally, the study has clearly shown that remittances in Isiekenesi are typically altruistic as migrants see it as a means of providing economic support to individual recipients at home to improve their living standard.     

An integrated and experience-based approach to social work education: The Newcastle model

This paper describes a unique social work education model developed by a group of social work practitioners, all but one of whom were new to academia. The University of Newcastle, in New South Wales, pioneered problem-based learning (PBL) in Australia. The social work programme adopted PBL and gave it a strengths focus, making experience and experiential learning central to its approach. Newcastle's model is based on the belief that learning to be good social workers is best achieved through learning by doing, working with students' experiences, integrating theory and practice, using a collaborative or small group approach, and locating these elements in a strong social justice context. The Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree is relatively new. Introduced in 1991, its first graduates entered the workforce in 1995. The Newcastle model provides a unique example of experience-based learning and an integrated approach to social work education.     

Alleviating linear ecological bias and optimal design with subsample data

Summary.  We illustrate that combining ecological data with subsample data in situations in which a linear model is appropriate provides two main benefits. First, by including the individual level subsample data, the biases that are associated with linear ecological inference can be eliminated. Second, available ecological data can be used to design optimal subsampling schemes that maximize information about parameters. We present an application of this methodology to the classic problem of estimating the effect of a college degree on wages, showing that small, optimally chosen subsamples can be combined with ecological data to generate precise estimates relative to a simple random subsample.     

My own business,not my children’s: negotiating funeral rites and the mobility and communication juncture among Chinese migrants in Melbourne

The article analyses cross-generational negotiations of funeral rites of Chinese migrants in Melbourne, Australia. It discusses the intersections between migration and death, with reference to the meaning of death and funeral rites linking multiple generations in migrant life. These intersections create a ‘mobility juncture’ to engrain their legacy and communicate across generations. We interviewed 36 Chinese migrants and 5 funeral professionals. Data analysis showed that the participants were open to discussing death, funeral preparation, and pre-purchasing a grave-plot. The socio-economically independent life style in Australia has brought about changes to their perception and preparation of their final journey. Yet, the significance of the grave-site as a point of communication between the past and the present/future remains, naturally leading to active construction of a communication juncture. Strong incentives for preparing their own funeral and burial place included a wish to ease the burden for their children and a lack of confidence in their children’s knowledge and future implementation of diverse Chinese funeral rites. Filial piety and family values remain significant, but they continue to undergo changes in the Australian context.     

开发式生态移民的效益分析——以哈密市为例

超载人口的搬迁,开发荒地,促进园艺业和育肥业的协调发展,劳务输出,基础设施建设的不断完善等生产方式的改变和生活条件的改善使得开发式生态移民的生态效益、经济效益和社会效益明显。在生态移民的正确认识、传统灌溉农业的技术改造、农牧产品加工业的发展、劳动力转移的促进等方面加强工作力度。对地区水资源紧张等新问题的解决和生态移民效益的不断提高具有关键性作用。     

Offspring Migration and Parents' Emotional and Psychological Well‐being in Mexico

In Mexico, offspring migration disrupts familial norms of coresidence and geographic proximity. This article examines how an adult child's migration, both domestically and to the United States, affects the emotional and psychological well‐being of parents who remain in the place of origin. Using nationally representative longitudinal data from the Mexican Family Life Survey (N = 4,718), the authors found limited evidence that parents whose offspring emigrated to the United States experience worse outcomes than parents of offspring who did not migrate. Although they found that offspring U.S. migration was not associated with changes in parents' overall depressive syndrome, a child's U.S. migration increased the likelihood of experiencing loneliness and led to a lower likelihood of recovery from parental sadness over time. Children's domestic migration did not affect parental well‐being. These findings add to a growing body of literature that should be considered when assessing the broader impact of migration on family members who remain behind.     

西部地区流动人口社会融合研究

通过对昆明市流动人口的抽样调查发现:流动人口已基本实现在城市的生存,经济融合状况相对较好,但由于居住条件差、收入不稳定、子女进入公办学校难或教育成本高,与本地居民交往融合程度较低,从而心理融合度处于较低状态。这说明,经济的融合并不必然导致其他层面的融合,经济融合、社会适应、身份认同之间并没有呈现依次递进的关系。在流动人口与城市社会的融合过程中,经济层面的融合和制度的接纳最为重要,而与本地人的接纳互动关系不大,这说明,区隔型融合是流动人口与城市融合的可行方式。