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Migrant Families in Switzerland: Intergenerational Dynamic Facing Integration

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Migration, Familie und Gesellschaft

Abstract

Migrant families have recently become a focus in Swiss political agenda as immigrant policy experienced a strong development in the last decade, away from labour market policy which was the dominant perspective in migration management in Switzerland. In this context, paradoxically migrant families are often casted in an ahistorical „traditional“ frame and conceptualised as the place of a reproduction and therefore opposition to change. The author challenges this perspective by pointing at various empirically based findings dealing with intergenerational mobility and relations. She shows how migrant families appear rather as the place of negotiation of sustainable change both for the individual and the group.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The TrAd (Transition to Adulthood) study concerned autochthonous youth as well as native-born children of Portuguese and Serbo-Croatian speaking immigrants (N = 332) living in Geneva and Zurich (Fibbi and Lerch 2007).

  2. 2.

    The TIES (The Integration of European Second generation) study concerned autochthonous youth as well as native-born children of Balkan and Turkish descent immigrants (N = 1348) living in Basel and Zurich (Fibbi et al. 2010).

  3. 3.

    http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/01/07/blank/key/04.html, consulted March 2nd 2010.

  4. 4.

    http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/fr/index/themen/01/07.html

  5. 5.

    We refer to the “Fördern und fordern” (supporting and enforcing) formula, where promotion of integration is accompanied by sanctions when the results aimed at are not achieved (Piñeiro et al. 2009).

  6. 6.

    Immigration policy used to be run by OFIAMT (Office fédéral de l’industrie, des arts et métiers et du travail); the task was taken over in 1996 by the OFE (Office fédéral des étrangers) renamed first IMES (Immigration, Intégration, Emigration Suisse) in 2003 and later ODM (Office fédéral des migrations) in charge of both immigration and asylum policies (2004). http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/fr/home/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen/2004/ref_2004-06-07.html. http://www.ejpd.admin.ch/ejpd/fr/home/dokumentation/mi/2003/2003-03-07.html. http://www.admin.ch/cp/f/1996Jul1.165836.6255@idz.bfi.admin.ch.html, consulted March 2nd, 2010.

  7. 7.

    Family reunion was allowed after three years of regular annual permit until 1964, when the waiting period was reduced to eighteen months; it was impossible for seasonal workers (until 2002) a policy which produced the phenomenon of clandestine children (Frigerio and Burgherr 1992) and ‘transnational families’ ante litteram.

  8. 8.

    1994 was the first year when the family reunion of foreigners was distinguished from the family reunion of Swiss citizens, which represent roughly one-third of all family reunion authorizations; 36,285 such entries were registered in a total of 83,455 (table su-f-1.3.2.2.5).

  9. 9.

    According to the Alien Law, if a migrant does not apply within his or her first year of residence for family reunion, he will not be able to sponsor a minor over the age of twelve. If he does not apply within his first five years, he will not be eligible at all for family reunion.

  10. 10.

    http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/fr/home/dokumentation/gesetzgebung/teilrevision_asylgesetz.html, consulted March 2nd, 2010.

  11. 11.

    VO—Integrationsgesetz BS 2007.

  12. 12.

    http://www.bfm.admin.ch/bfm/fr/home/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen/2009/2009-01-26.html, consulted May 28th 2010. „Enfin, le projet de statistique des étrangers 2008 met en évidence le fait que le travail constitue un motif d’immigration de plus en plus important pour la population résidante permanente de nationalité étrangère tandis que le regroupement familial a perdu en signification. Entre 2005 et 2008, la proportion d’étrangers venus en Suisse afin d’y exercer une activité lucrative est passée de 37,5 % à 50 % alors que le pourcentage de ceux entrés en bénéficiant du regroupement familial a reculé de 39,2 % à 31,2 %.” Communiqués, ODM, 26.01.2009.

  13. 13.

    Answers to the three following sentences allow the measurement of those values: Children give meaning to life, they are the joy of the house and they give parents a feeling of being useful.

  14. 14.

    Answers to the three following sentences allow the measurement of those values: Children are there in case of problems, they will give help later in life and they bring parents together.

  15. 15.

    Among Serbo-Croatian youth, for instance, children’s rates of psychological well-being are 86 % when raised with authoritarian parenting, against 73 % for authoritative parenting and 30 % for indulgent parenting.

  16. 16.

    Among Portuguese teenagers, 21 % of boys and 13 % of girls feel “embarrassed” by their parents.

  17. 17.

    Among Serbo-Croatian–speaking teenagers, 37 % of boys and 31 % of girls feel “embarrassed” by their parents.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies, Universität Neuenburg, Avenue du 1er-Mars, Fbg de l’Hôpital 106, 26, 2000, Neuchâtel, CH, Switzerland

    Dr. phil. Rosita Fibbi

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  1. Dr. phil. Rosita Fibbi
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Correspondence to Rosita Fibbi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Integration und Partizipation, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz Hochschule für Soziale Arbeit, Olten, Switzerland

    Thomas Geisen

  2. Hochschule für Soziale Arbeit, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Olten, Switzerland

    Tobias Studer

  3. Universität Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Erol Yildiz

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Fibbi, R. (2014). Migrant Families in Switzerland: Intergenerational Dynamic Facing Integration. In: Geisen, T., Studer, T., Yildiz, E. (eds) Migration, Familie und Gesellschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-94126-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-94126-4_11

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