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Theoretical Background and objectives

Theoretical background and objectives

Theoretical background and objectives

Dissertation project
 

Theoretical background and objectives

Within my dissertation I am looking at the risk factors of becoming and staying over-educated among immigrants in Germany. Over-education refers to employees whose educational level is higher than the level actually required for their occupation. I am thereby addressing the following research questions:

Theoretical background and objectives

We investigate an often overlooked implication of the signaling model of statistical discrimination: if immigrant minorities’ educational qualifications carry less signaling power, poorly qualified minority
members should experience positive statistical discrimination.We argue that the lower signaling power stems from disadvantages associated with insufficient language skills and lack of supportive parental resources, which prevent minority students from achieving those educational qualifications that would reflect their high motivation and ambition. Yet, if education counts less, we should find immigrant minorities in jobs for which they are under-qualified.

We are witnessing an important transition from post-industrial economies to service economies, so called the "24/7 economy." A 24 hours/7 days economy demands services around the clock, and this has underpinned the rise in work schedules in evenings, nights, and weekends (so called “shift work” or “nonstandard work schedules”). This labour market trend has raised concerns about its possible impacts on families and children. Research in this field is limited and much of this work has been conducted in the US, with no study on this topic in Germany. This project aims to examine the potential impact of working nonstandard schedules on parents and children in Germany.

Theoretical background and objectives

Theoretical background and objectives

The way in which citizens define their national identity can conflict with how it is defined by political elites at the macro-level. It can be difficult to infer one from the other. Citizens do not always agree with or follow elite discourse and policy making, while elites do not always listen to citizens. Thus, understanding the subjective meaning citizens assign to their national identity, their sense of belonging to an “imagined community” (Anderson, 1991) including everyday rituals and practices ought to be an independent exercise that extends and complements research at the macro-level.

Theoretical background and objectives

Older immigrants are a growing population group in many European countries, but very little is known about their financial situation. The project uses data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC, 2004-2012) to document the extent of ethnic inequality in retirement income in 16 Western European countries. A major goal is to identify institutional factors that are related to the size of the retirement income gap between immigrants and natives. The factors considered include the pension system, immigration and integration policy, welfare state transfers and labor market regulation.