Institutional Disrespect by Ibolya Losoncz

Author:Ibolya Losoncz
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811377174
Publisher: Springer Singapore

My research found that while there are a handful of small-scale, local government or private enterprise-based initiatives, there is no national programme that provides opportunities for humanitarian migrants. But, unless an opportunity to gain experience and develop networks is given, unemployment becomes self-perpetuating.

Ironically, the merit-based selection system , designed to be blind to race, gender, religious or political differences, restricted the employment opportunities of respondents. The principles of the merit-based selection system rest on recognition theory, which emphasises equal rights, respect and esteem for the diverse identities within societies (Honneth, 1992; Taylor, 1992; Young, 1990). There is, however, a debate within this school of thought on the point of recognising difference. Some theorists, such as Barry (2001), maintain that equality of opportunities requires rights to be difference-blind. Others, notably Holtug and Mason (2010) and Young (1990), argue that rights need to recognise differences in order to give people substantively, rather than formally, equal opportunities.

Young distinguishes between equal treatment and recognition of equal worth. Recognition of equal worth, she argues, ‘requires different treatment for oppressed or disadvantaged groups’. Young reasons that under equal treatment, group differences are reduced to ‘a purely accidental and private matter’ (Young, 1990, p. 157). But the relative disadvantage of refugee migrants is not a result of personal choices under their control; instead, it comes from their group experience of being refugees. Because of their refugee experiences, refugees are not entering the labour market on equal terms with people who grew up in Australia. Thus the merit-based selection system, with its approach of equal treatment, fails to account for the fact that refugees are not on equal terms with the rest of the population. Contrary to its intent, the system may block the economic participation of humanitarian migrants. Indeed, some of the participants argued that the universal application of merit-based selection systems was unfair unless there was provision made for disadvantaged groups.

Despite increasing evidence of the systemic exclusion of refugees, this is not acknowledged by the government and policy-makers, and the political discourse is dominated by claims that particular migrant groups are prone to adopt non-functional behaviours. However, as argued by Merton (1968), it is not members of particular groups that have dysfunctional behaviour; rather it is elements of institutions which are generally functional for some, but dysfunctional for others. In other words, social structures affect not only outcomes for people, but also the strategies and behaviours they adopt. The structural imbalance of power in which the refugees find themselves undermines their capacity and determination to economically and socially integrate.

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