Dimensions of agency in transnational relations of Afghan migrants and return migrants

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Fischer ◽  
Marieke van Houte
Keyword(s):  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Transnational Relations ◽  
Return Migrants ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Transnational Engagement ◽  
Affective Relations ◽  
Afghan Migrants

Abstract This article examines agency unfolding in the relationships that Afghan migrants and return migrants maintain with Afghanistan. Based on qualitative case studies of Afghan diaspora groups in Germany and the UK and Afghan return migrants in Kabul, we focus on how people engage with and position themselves in relation to Afghanistan. Drawing on Emirbayer and Mische’s tri-dimensional concept of agency in combination with Vigh’s idea of social navigation, we approach affective relations and forms of practical (transnational) engagement as expressions of agency. Research on migrants and return migrants is seldom brought together. However, exploring the types of engagement of these two groups with Afghanistan is telling for three reasons. First, it enables us to identify parallels and differences in the way Afghan migrants and return migrants relate to Afghanistan. Secondly, we uncover how ideas of change vary in different settings and under different socio-political conditions. Thirdly, we demonstrate that ties between people and place are not innate but an expression of agency and self-positioning. These in turn are contingent on individual characteristics and the context in which people are embedded. Compared to policy-oriented discussions on the migration-development nexus and on forms and outcomes of migrant engagements, our study yields a more nuanced understanding of entanglements between agency and engagement among Afghan migrants and return migrants.

scholarly journals Contemporary work: Its meanings and demands

2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Findlay ◽  
Paul Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Performance Management ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Positive Elements ◽  
Contemporary Work ◽  
Market Factors ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The Uk

This article addresses recurrent trends in the forces shaping work and its meanings. Using evidence from large-scale surveys and qualitative case studies it maps the changing picture of work and employment, particularly in the UK and Australia. It does so by focusing on insecurity, demanding work, performance management, work–life boundaries and dis/engagement. Whilst identifying a number of negative impacts of change such as growing insecurity and excessive work pressures, the article emphasises that these are trends, not universals, and don’t affect all workers or affect them in the same way. We need to be more careful about how trends are translated into overarching theoretical constructs that give a misleading picture. In policy terms, attention should be given to the intersection of labour process and labour market factors, the changing boundaries between and shared aspirations of ‘standard’ and ‘nonstandard’ workers, and to a more nuanced understanding of the positive elements of ‘bad’ jobs and the more negative elements of ‘good’ ones.

scholarly journals Welfare chauvinism across benefits and services

2021 ◽  
pp. 095892872110230
Author(s):  
Gianna Maria Eick ◽  
Christian Albrekt Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Risks ◽  
Cash Benefits ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
The Uk

The article theorises how covering social risks through cash transfers and in-kind services shapes public attitudes towards including/excluding immigrants from these programmes in Western European destination countries. The argument is that public attitudes are more restrictive of granting immigrants access to benefits than to services. This hypothesis is tested across ten social protection programmes using original survey data collected in Denmark, Germany and the UK in 2019. Across the three countries, representing respectively a social democratic, conservative and liberal welfare regime context, the article finds that the public does indeed have a preference for easier access for in-kind services than for cash benefits. The article also finds these results to be stable across programmes covering the same social risks; the examples are child benefits and childcare. The results are even stable across left-wing, mainstream and radical right-wing voters; with the partial exception of radical right-wing voters in the UK. Finally, the article finds only a moderate association between individual characteristics and attitudinal variation across cash benefits and in-kind services.

scholarly journals Migration and development at home: Bitter or sweet return? Evidence from Poland

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Daniele Coniglio ◽  
Jan Brzozowski
Keyword(s):  
Return Migration ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Financial Capital ◽  
Economic Literature ◽  
Return Migrants ◽  
Migration Experience ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Migration And Development

The existing economic literature focuses on the benefits that return migrants offer to their home country in terms of entrepreneurship and human and financial capital accumulation. However, return migration can have modest or even some detrimental effects if the migration experience was unsuccessful and/or if the migrant fails to re-integrate into the home country’s economy. In our paper, we empirically show which factors – both individual characteristics and features related to the migration experience – influence the likelihood of a sub-optimal employment of returnees’ human capital employing an original dataset on a representative sample of return migrants in Silesia (Poland).

African Leadership in Human Rights: The Gambia and The Commonwealth Human Rights Commission, 1977–83

2020 ◽  
pp. 002200942091106
Author(s):  
James Kirby
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Human Rights Movement ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Commonwealth Of Nations ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Human Rights History ◽  
Global Arena

This article examines The Gambia’s campaign from 1977-83 for a new international mechanism to protect human rights in the Commonwealth of Nations. President Dawda Jawara’s crusade for a Commonwealth Human Rights Commission complicates the dominant scholarly interpretation of human rights history, which tends to dismiss or overlook African participation in the international human rights movement. The article explains The Gambia’s display of human rights idealism as a strategy to attract aid and legitimacy in the global arena. It also shows how The Gambia’s project was thwarted by the ‘Old Commonwealth’, including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Western member states worked together to surreptitiously weaken and defeat The Gambia’s initiative, while deflecting blame and counting on ‘New Commonwealth’ governments in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific to play the role of antagonist. Overall, the article contends the Commonwealth Human Rights Commission was killed because it threatened illusions and assumptions about the human rights movement that were convenient for western powers. With the use of archival sources from the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, this article spotlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of African and Global South actors in human rights history.

scholarly journals Can Active Labour Market Programmes Emulate the Mental Health Benefits of Regular Paid Employment? Longitudinal Evidence from the United Kingdom

2020 ◽  
pp. 095001702094666
Author(s):  
Senhu Wang ◽  
Adam Coutts ◽  
Brendan Burchell ◽  
Daiga Kamerāde ◽  
Ursula Balderson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Mental Health Benefits ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Active Labour Market Programmes

Active Labour Market Programmes (ALMPs), which form important components of employment support policies around the world, have been found to improve mental health and wellbeing of participants. However, it remains unclear how these health effects compare with the effects of different types of employment for men and women. Using 1991–2019 panel data in the UK, we find that unemployed women derive similar mental health benefits from ALMPs compared with employment. Unemployed men also benefit from ALMPs but obtain significantly more health benefits from formal employment. Such benefits are particularly pronounced in full-time, permanent and upper/middle-status jobs. Further analyses reveal that programmes that deliver human capital training have larger mental health benefits than employment assistance ALMPs. These findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the mental health impacts of ALMPs compared with different types of employment, and highlight the need for a more gender-sensitive design in labour market interventions.

scholarly journals Symptom remission at 12-weeks strongly predicts long-term recovery from the first episode of psychosis

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 1452-1462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Dazzan ◽  
Julia M. Lappin ◽  
Margaret Heslin ◽  
Kim Donoghue ◽  
Ben Lomas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Recovery ◽  
Strong Predictor ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Psychotic Symptoms ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Symptom Remission ◽  
Symptom Recovery ◽  
The Uk

AbstractBackgroundTo determine the baseline individual characteristics that predicted symptom recovery and functional recovery at 10-years following the first episode of psychosis.MethodsAESOP-10 is a 10-year follow up of an epidemiological, naturalistic population-based cohort of individuals recruited at the time of their first episode of psychosis in two areas in the UK (South East London and Nottingham). Detailed information on demographic, clinical, and social factors was examined to identify which factors predicted symptom and functional remission and recovery over 10-year follow-up. The study included 557 individuals with a first episode psychosis. The main study outcomes were symptom recovery and functional recovery at 10-year follow-up.ResultsAt 10 years, 46.2% (n = 140 of 303) of patients achieved symptom recovery and 40.9% (n = 117) achieved functional recovery. The strongest predictor of symptom recovery at 10 years was symptom remission at 12 weeks (adj OR 4.47; CI 2.60–7.67); followed by a diagnosis of depression with psychotic symptoms (adj OR 2.68; CI 1.02–7.05). Symptom remission at 12 weeks was also a strong predictor of functional recovery at 10 years (adj OR 2.75; CI 1.23–6.11), together with being from Nottingham study centre (adj OR 3.23; CI 1.25–8.30) and having a diagnosis of mania (adj OR 8.17; CI 1.61–41.42).ConclusionsSymptom remission at 12 weeks is an important predictor of both symptom and functional recovery at 10 years, with implications for illness management. The concepts of clinical and functional recovery overlap but should be considered separately.

scholarly journals Spoken Latin: Learning, Teaching, Lecturing and Research

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (37) ◽  
pp. 46-52
Author(s):  
A. Gratius Avitus
Keyword(s):  
Reading Fluency ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The Uk

My experiences both as a learner and as a teacher of Latin have led me to the conviction that speaking Latin advances a more nuanced understanding of the language, and leads to an enhanced level of reading fluency and greater ease in engaging closely with the text. Even after having studied the language to any degree of competence in a passive capacity, bringing it into active use does not come without some investment of time and effort. With the intention of facilitating access to the benefits of speaking Latin fluently, I have set out some recommendations for those who would like to explore this approach, and put together an overview of its recent spread in formal teaching, and in research, around the UK and Europe. It is my hope that in drawing attention to the rapidly increasing number of initiatives, this article will promote cross-fertilisation of ideas between the disparate influencers in the field of Latin pedagogy.

scholarly journals Approaches to Training Teachers of Adults in the UK

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-79
Author(s):  
Vadym Chychuk
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Students ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Adult Student ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Effective Learning ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Uk

Abstract The article deals with the theoretical foundations of teacher training for adult students in the UK. It has been found out that the system of adult education is based on the andragogical approach that reveals patterns, psychological and pedagogical factors of effective learning. In applying the andragogical approach to adult education the following factors contribute to the learning process improvement: considering the motivation of adult learning, defining educational interests and needs of each adult student, the choice made by andragogue of the learning strategies and techniques designed to increase the professional level of adult education, practical implementation of knowledge and experience acquired by adult students in training process, taking into account the individual characteristics of each participant in the learning process, the desire to cooperate with the teacherandragogue. The theoretical basis of this process is the science of andragogics. It has been revealed that when working with an adult student, the following approaches are used: traditional didactic, problem-search, facilitating that are focused on the content and the learning process. Author determined specific approaches used in the UK for teaching adults, namely active, institutional, competence, synergy and others.

Leaving nursing: an event-history analysis of nurses' careers

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 150-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Barron ◽  
Elizabeth West
Keyword(s):  
Event History Analysis ◽  
Maternity Leave ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Nurse Retention ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
The Uk

Objectives: The current shortage of nurses is a major problem for health care systems around the world and has revitalized interest in the dynamics of nurses' careers. This paper investigates the factors associated with qualified nurses in Britain moving to different employment statuses, including jobs outside nursing, unemployment, maternity leave and family care over time. Methods: British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) data collected between 1991 and 2001 were used to estimate the effects of covariates on transition rates between different employment statuses. Results: Individual characteristics associated with shorter tenure in the profession include being male, being younger, having a degree, and having been born in the UK. Many nurses leave to care for their families, which suggests the possibility of returning to the profession at a later date. A number of job characteristics are also related to leaving, including low pay, managerial responsibility, full-time work and lack of opportunities to use initiative. Nurses seem to be particularly vulnerable to leaving early in their careers, but those who survive the first few years are likely to remain in the profession for the rest of their working lives. Conclusions: It is particularly important in policy terms that ability to use initiative is related to leaving nursing for another form of full-time employment and, in particular, to leaving for a better job. This finding is consistent with results from studies of the Magnet hospitals in the US. Taken together, these results suggest that strategies to improve nurse retention must attend to nurses' status, authority and position in the hierarchy if they are to be successful. The results also provide strong support for those who argue that better rates of pay are necessary in order to improve nurse retention.

scholarly journals LGBT discrimination, harassment and violence in Germany, Portugal and the UK: A quantitative comparative approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212110392
Author(s):  
Sait Bayrakdar ◽  
Andrew King
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Socioeconomic Resources ◽  
Trans People ◽  
And Bisexual ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Differential Categories ◽  
Cross National

This article examines the incidents of discrimination, harassment and violence experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) individuals in Germany, Portugal and the UK. Using a large cross-national survey and adopting an intra-categorical intersectional approach, it documents how the likelihood of experiencing discrimination, harassment and violence changes within LGBT communities across three national contexts. Moreover, it explores how individual characteristics are associated with the likelihood of experiencing such incidents. The results show that trans people are more at risk compared to cisgender gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals to experience discrimination, harassment and violence. However, other factors, such as socioeconomic resources, also affect the likelihood of individuals experiencing such incidents. The three countries in our study show some nuanced differences in likelihood levels of experiencing discrimination, harassment and violence with regard to differential categories of sexual orientation and gender identity.

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