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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.

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

Minority-majority tensions are among the most pressing issues of our time and a key factor in the rise of populism. The reemergence of majority nationalism raises new concerns over the tyranny of the majority. At the same time, fears over the erosion of majority groups’ cultural identity appear as a result of global migration. This calls for a reexamination of fundamental assumptions in liberal political theory and the meaning of nationhood in a globalized world.

On December 19, 2018, the U.N. General Assembly endorsed the Global Compact for Migration (GCM), a non-binding agreement approved in a historical moment in Marrakech on 10 December by 164 Member States. The GCM is the first time in which the international community has widely agreed on how to address the global migration challenge. The topic of citizenship, however, has been left outside of the GCM and remains the last stronghold of national sovereignty, which seems to need no international regulation. Is this assumption still politically valid, or is the world ready for a Global Compact on Citizenship?

Theoretical background and objectives