Sarah Spencer | University of Oxford (original) (raw)
Papers by Sarah Spencer
IMISCOE Research Series
Irregular migration is a multifaceted, dynamic phenomenon that has attracted disproportionate med... more Irregular migration is a multifaceted, dynamic phenomenon that has attracted disproportionate media and political attention since the early 2000s. It has been at the forefront of the political debate in most of the European Union’s Member States since the outbreak of the so-called ‘migration crisis’ of 2015. Indeed, the political attention paid to irregular migration is disproportionate to its volume. Migrants are estimated to represent 3.3% of the world’s population (IOM, 2017, from UNDESA, 2017) with migrants in an irregular situation between 15% and 20% of them. This is approximately 1% of the global population, some 30–40 million individuals worldwide (UN OHCHR, 2014; ILO, 2015). In the USA, the undocumented population was estimated in 2015 to be 11 million (Rosenblum & Ruiz Soto, 2015); while in Europe it was estimated to be 1.9–3.8 million in 2008 (Kovacheva & Vogel, 2009); and between 2.9 and 3.8 million in 2018 (Pew Research Centre, 2019).
Marriage Migration and Integration, 2020
In this chapter, we explore the social domain of integration, situating migrant spouses' patterns... more In this chapter, we explore the social domain of integration, situating migrant spouses' patterns of social contacts and networks within societal and temporal contexts, and drawing out their implications for integration in other domains. As the Labour Force Survey does not contain data on social networks, the discussion is based on the rich qualitative research material from the Marriage Migration and Integration project. The inclusion in the sample not just of migrant spouses and their partners, but also intranational couples, helps us to tease apart the social implications of marriage migration from issues which are often shared across couple types, such as the social implications of life stage and the opportunities and barriers of different social contexts. We start with a sibling pair case study which introduces several of the themes of the chapter. Amir (40s) and Eshan (30s) grew up in a tight-knit family in Bradford. The area was ethnically mixed, with kids in and out of each other's houses and attending activities at the local youth club. Both did well at school but, as the older brother, Amir took on the responsibility of going into the family business, whilst Eshan went on to University. Amir married Ghazala, a cousin from Pakistan, who joined the family in Bradford. As the youngest son, Eshan was expected to marry someone who would stay
Culturalist understandings connect transnational marriage with ‘traditional’ gender and family re... more Culturalist understandings connect transnational marriage with ‘traditional’ gender and family relationships, contrasted with models of ‘modern’ egalitarian European gender relations which are taken as a sign of cultural integration. Previous chapters of this volume have considered gender issues in relation to education, employment and social life. In this chapter, we explore another prominent topic in this area: extended family living. The Labour Force Survey data reveals that rates living in extended families are patterned by couple type, with particularly high rates among migrant wife couples. For both transnational and intranational couples, women sometimes find living with their in-laws constraining. For some British Pakistani women, a transnational marriage offers the opportunity to avoid the role of daughter-in-law, and so may offer increased autonomy and/or the opportunity to remain living with or near their natal family. Migrant husbands, conversely, are often in the cultur...
Marriage Migration and Integration, 2020
In this chapter we look at patterns and trends transnational marriage among British Pakistani Mus... more In this chapter we look at patterns and trends transnational marriage among British Pakistani Muslims and British Indian Sikhs, explore attitudes towards transnational marriage and look at how participants own marriages came about. Labour Force Survey data shows a clear downward trend in the popularity of transnational marriage. They also show transnational marriage is less common among those with higher education. We explore the possibility that the opportunity for migration might be ‘exchanged’ for educational capital so that transnational marriage could provide British South Asians access to more educated partners in India or Pakistan. The LFS figures show that educational homogamy (spouses having the same level of education) is the dominant pattern in both transnational and intranational marriages. We nevertheless find evidence of educational selectivity in transnational marriages, with migrant spouses’ educational profiles comparing very favourably to those in the origin countries. The qualitative data from the MMI study shows that educational similarity constitutes just one aspect of understandings of compatibility which make transnational marriage attractive for some, and undesirable for others. Family considerations, such as care for parents as they age, and for British Pakistanis the possibility of marriage between cousins, also appear in these accounts, alongside the opportunities to meet marriage partners presented by the transnational social field.
J Happiness Stud, 2012
Wilful Betrayal or Capacity Constrained? An analysis of the factors that have shaped national pol... more Wilful Betrayal or Capacity Constrained? An analysis of the factors that have shaped national policy development on migration and integration in the UK. Moedwillige misleiding of beperkte mogelijkheden? Een analyse van de factoren die de ontwikkeling van het Britse migratie-en integratiebeleid hebben beïnvloed.
A recent study of the legal entitlements of irregular (undocumented) migrants in national laws ac... more A recent study of the legal entitlements of irregular (undocumented) migrants in national laws across the EU28 reveals a polarity of entitlements to healthcare and school education. Entitlements have in both instances been extended in some Member States in recent years but there are also instances of further restrictions being imposed. The entitlements of children to healthcare are often greater than those of adults. While in some cases entitlements are explicitly provided for in law or regulations, in other cases the entitlement is implicit in a universal provision from which irregular migrants are not excluded. The pattern of entitlements does not appear to mirror potential explanatory factors such as national wealth or size of the irregular migrant population. The study explored entitlements in law, not the range of barriers which can in practice limit access to the service.
IMISCOE Research Series, 2020
Journal of Population Ageing, 2010
The articles in this special issue all throw light, from different perspectives, on a dimension o... more The articles in this special issue all throw light, from different perspectives, on a dimension of ageing societies which has hitherto received surprisingly little attention: the reliance on migrants to meet the growing demand for care services. Drawing on findings from empirical research conducted in four countries in 2007-2009, they explore questions that should be of concern to scholars and policy makers in equal measure: the nature and likely scale of demand for migrants to provide direct care services, the ways in which that demand is shaped by the structure and funding of care provision, and the implications of the employment of migrants for the quality of care, and for employers, older people, and migrants themselves. Remarkably, despite significant differences in the structure and resourcing of care provision and in migration policies across the four countries concerned-the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada-clear themes emerge in relation to demand and to the challenges it brings. Before reviewing those themes, a word on terminology. First, the authors use 'migrant' or 'immigrant' to refer, in the case of the UK and the US, to the foreign born; often to those who have relatively recently arrived but not necessarily so. Where the data on migrants available to the authors refers not to country of birth but to nationality, as in Ireland and Canada, the terms migrant and immigrant refer to those who are 'foreign'; that is, to carers who do not hold the nationality of the country in which they are working. 'Immigrant' may seem to the reader to have stronger connotations of long term residence than 'migrant', and this is the case in the Canadian usage; but temporary or permanent residence should not be assumed: the authors use the term most commonly used in the country on which they are writing, and the migrants' long term intentions, and whether they have a right to remain, will differ. Second, the articles use different terms to refer to the care staff who are the focus of the research on which they report: 'direct care' providers in the US (as distinct
The expert contributors to this edited volume, representing a multidisciplinary selection of acad... more The expert contributors to this edited volume, representing a multidisciplinary selection of academics, examine the treatment of irregular migration, human trafficking and smuggling in EU law and policy. The various chapters explore the policy dilemmas encountered in efforts to criminalise irregular migration and humanitarian assistance to irregular immigrants. The book aims to provide academic input to informed policy-making in the next phase of the European Agenda on Migration. In his Foreword, Matthias Ruete, Director General of DG Home Affairs of the European Commission, writes: “This initiative aims to stimulate evidence-based policy-making and to bring fresh thinking to develop more effective policies. The European Commission welcomes the valuable contribution of this initiative to help close the wide gap in our knowledge about the smuggling of migrants, and especially the functioning of smuggling networks.”
In this book we set out to explore the conceptual challenges posed by the presence of migrants wi... more In this book we set out to explore the conceptual challenges posed by the presence of migrants with irregular immigration status in Europe and the evolving policy responses. In contrast to many earlier texts, our focus has been on irregular migrants living in Europe, not crossing its borders; and viewed not as a temporary crisis but as a continuing, structural feature of European societies. The drivers, forms, and consequences of irregular migration are nevertheless in transition and a key theme throughout has been that of change. Conceptual tools are needed to explain the complex social realities of this section of the migrant population; coupled with a need to unravel the legal and policy responses at the European, national and municipal levels: their drivers, multiple actors and potential future course.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2017
ABSTRACT This article explores the responses of European local authorities to the public service ... more ABSTRACT This article explores the responses of European local authorities to the public service needs of residents with irregular immigration status and the tensions with national governments to which this can give rise. Drawing on a study of responses by national and local tiers, including a mapping of national legal frameworks on entitlements to health care and education, it identifies factors that lead to divergence between local and national policy framing and responses. Finding that socio-economic and individual consequences of exclusion dominate in shaping local framing of policy responses in contrast to national government priorities, it explores the implications for modes of multi-level governance (MLG) on this issue. It expands on the concept in the literature of ‘decoupling’, contrasting relationships of overt conflict with low-visibility strategies of conflict avoidance; demonstrating the differing forms this ‘shadow politics’ of migrants’ rights and shadow provision of services can take, including arms-length provision through NGOs. Thus the dynamic of MLG is itself one part of explaining the nature of local responses to the challenges that migrants with irregular status can pose.
American Behavioral Scientist, 2016
This article explores the competing policy imperatives within and between tiers of government and... more This article explores the competing policy imperatives within and between tiers of government and policy makers’ perceptions of the relative “deservingness” of undocumented children, which contribute to an uneven geography of entitlements to public services across the European Union. While scholars have contrasted the formal exclusion of undocumented migrants with their informal inclusion, the article explores the tension between formal exclusion and formal inclusion: where the state, through granting legal entitlements to services, contradicts the logic of its own enforcement paradigm. The analysis presents the findings of a comprehensive mapping of entitlements to health care and education for undocumented children across the European Union’s 28 member states and draws on interviews with policy makers across 14 member states to explore the justification for entitlements granted at national and substate levels. It finds that competing policy imperatives are most acute in relation t...
Population Studies, 1995
Page 1. IMMIGRATION AS AN ECONOMIC ASSET The German Experience Edited by SARAH SPENCER Page 2. Pa... more Page 1. IMMIGRATION AS AN ECONOMIC ASSET The German Experience Edited by SARAH SPENCER Page 2. Page 3. ... Page 4. > Page 5. IMMIGRATION AS AN ECONOMIC ASSET the German Experience Edited by Sarah Spencer rm te IPPR/Trentham Books Page 6. ...
Ethnicities, 2016
In both policy and academic debates in Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, concern is increasingly e... more In both policy and academic debates in Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, concern is increasingly expressed over the implications of spousal immigration for ‘integration’. Continued practices of ‘homeland’ transnational marriage within some ethnic minority communities, in particular, are presented as problematic, and new immigration restrictions likely to particularly affect such groups are justified on the grounds of promoting integration. The evidence base to underpin this concern is, however, surprisingly limited and analysis is based on differing and often partial conceptualisations of integration. Through an examination of the evidence in recent studies, we interrogate the impact which spousal immigration can have within differing domains of integration. Exposing the complex processes at play we demonstrate the need for future research to deploy a nuanced, more comprehensive concept of integration if it is to avoid simplistic assertions that these forms of marriage migration have...
Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union.
IMISCOE Research Series
Irregular migration is a multifaceted, dynamic phenomenon that has attracted disproportionate med... more Irregular migration is a multifaceted, dynamic phenomenon that has attracted disproportionate media and political attention since the early 2000s. It has been at the forefront of the political debate in most of the European Union’s Member States since the outbreak of the so-called ‘migration crisis’ of 2015. Indeed, the political attention paid to irregular migration is disproportionate to its volume. Migrants are estimated to represent 3.3% of the world’s population (IOM, 2017, from UNDESA, 2017) with migrants in an irregular situation between 15% and 20% of them. This is approximately 1% of the global population, some 30–40 million individuals worldwide (UN OHCHR, 2014; ILO, 2015). In the USA, the undocumented population was estimated in 2015 to be 11 million (Rosenblum & Ruiz Soto, 2015); while in Europe it was estimated to be 1.9–3.8 million in 2008 (Kovacheva & Vogel, 2009); and between 2.9 and 3.8 million in 2018 (Pew Research Centre, 2019).
Marriage Migration and Integration, 2020
In this chapter, we explore the social domain of integration, situating migrant spouses' patterns... more In this chapter, we explore the social domain of integration, situating migrant spouses' patterns of social contacts and networks within societal and temporal contexts, and drawing out their implications for integration in other domains. As the Labour Force Survey does not contain data on social networks, the discussion is based on the rich qualitative research material from the Marriage Migration and Integration project. The inclusion in the sample not just of migrant spouses and their partners, but also intranational couples, helps us to tease apart the social implications of marriage migration from issues which are often shared across couple types, such as the social implications of life stage and the opportunities and barriers of different social contexts. We start with a sibling pair case study which introduces several of the themes of the chapter. Amir (40s) and Eshan (30s) grew up in a tight-knit family in Bradford. The area was ethnically mixed, with kids in and out of each other's houses and attending activities at the local youth club. Both did well at school but, as the older brother, Amir took on the responsibility of going into the family business, whilst Eshan went on to University. Amir married Ghazala, a cousin from Pakistan, who joined the family in Bradford. As the youngest son, Eshan was expected to marry someone who would stay
Culturalist understandings connect transnational marriage with ‘traditional’ gender and family re... more Culturalist understandings connect transnational marriage with ‘traditional’ gender and family relationships, contrasted with models of ‘modern’ egalitarian European gender relations which are taken as a sign of cultural integration. Previous chapters of this volume have considered gender issues in relation to education, employment and social life. In this chapter, we explore another prominent topic in this area: extended family living. The Labour Force Survey data reveals that rates living in extended families are patterned by couple type, with particularly high rates among migrant wife couples. For both transnational and intranational couples, women sometimes find living with their in-laws constraining. For some British Pakistani women, a transnational marriage offers the opportunity to avoid the role of daughter-in-law, and so may offer increased autonomy and/or the opportunity to remain living with or near their natal family. Migrant husbands, conversely, are often in the cultur...
Marriage Migration and Integration, 2020
In this chapter we look at patterns and trends transnational marriage among British Pakistani Mus... more In this chapter we look at patterns and trends transnational marriage among British Pakistani Muslims and British Indian Sikhs, explore attitudes towards transnational marriage and look at how participants own marriages came about. Labour Force Survey data shows a clear downward trend in the popularity of transnational marriage. They also show transnational marriage is less common among those with higher education. We explore the possibility that the opportunity for migration might be ‘exchanged’ for educational capital so that transnational marriage could provide British South Asians access to more educated partners in India or Pakistan. The LFS figures show that educational homogamy (spouses having the same level of education) is the dominant pattern in both transnational and intranational marriages. We nevertheless find evidence of educational selectivity in transnational marriages, with migrant spouses’ educational profiles comparing very favourably to those in the origin countries. The qualitative data from the MMI study shows that educational similarity constitutes just one aspect of understandings of compatibility which make transnational marriage attractive for some, and undesirable for others. Family considerations, such as care for parents as they age, and for British Pakistanis the possibility of marriage between cousins, also appear in these accounts, alongside the opportunities to meet marriage partners presented by the transnational social field.
J Happiness Stud, 2012
Wilful Betrayal or Capacity Constrained? An analysis of the factors that have shaped national pol... more Wilful Betrayal or Capacity Constrained? An analysis of the factors that have shaped national policy development on migration and integration in the UK. Moedwillige misleiding of beperkte mogelijkheden? Een analyse van de factoren die de ontwikkeling van het Britse migratie-en integratiebeleid hebben beïnvloed.
A recent study of the legal entitlements of irregular (undocumented) migrants in national laws ac... more A recent study of the legal entitlements of irregular (undocumented) migrants in national laws across the EU28 reveals a polarity of entitlements to healthcare and school education. Entitlements have in both instances been extended in some Member States in recent years but there are also instances of further restrictions being imposed. The entitlements of children to healthcare are often greater than those of adults. While in some cases entitlements are explicitly provided for in law or regulations, in other cases the entitlement is implicit in a universal provision from which irregular migrants are not excluded. The pattern of entitlements does not appear to mirror potential explanatory factors such as national wealth or size of the irregular migrant population. The study explored entitlements in law, not the range of barriers which can in practice limit access to the service.
IMISCOE Research Series, 2020
Journal of Population Ageing, 2010
The articles in this special issue all throw light, from different perspectives, on a dimension o... more The articles in this special issue all throw light, from different perspectives, on a dimension of ageing societies which has hitherto received surprisingly little attention: the reliance on migrants to meet the growing demand for care services. Drawing on findings from empirical research conducted in four countries in 2007-2009, they explore questions that should be of concern to scholars and policy makers in equal measure: the nature and likely scale of demand for migrants to provide direct care services, the ways in which that demand is shaped by the structure and funding of care provision, and the implications of the employment of migrants for the quality of care, and for employers, older people, and migrants themselves. Remarkably, despite significant differences in the structure and resourcing of care provision and in migration policies across the four countries concerned-the UK, Ireland, the USA and Canada-clear themes emerge in relation to demand and to the challenges it brings. Before reviewing those themes, a word on terminology. First, the authors use 'migrant' or 'immigrant' to refer, in the case of the UK and the US, to the foreign born; often to those who have relatively recently arrived but not necessarily so. Where the data on migrants available to the authors refers not to country of birth but to nationality, as in Ireland and Canada, the terms migrant and immigrant refer to those who are 'foreign'; that is, to carers who do not hold the nationality of the country in which they are working. 'Immigrant' may seem to the reader to have stronger connotations of long term residence than 'migrant', and this is the case in the Canadian usage; but temporary or permanent residence should not be assumed: the authors use the term most commonly used in the country on which they are writing, and the migrants' long term intentions, and whether they have a right to remain, will differ. Second, the articles use different terms to refer to the care staff who are the focus of the research on which they report: 'direct care' providers in the US (as distinct
The expert contributors to this edited volume, representing a multidisciplinary selection of acad... more The expert contributors to this edited volume, representing a multidisciplinary selection of academics, examine the treatment of irregular migration, human trafficking and smuggling in EU law and policy. The various chapters explore the policy dilemmas encountered in efforts to criminalise irregular migration and humanitarian assistance to irregular immigrants. The book aims to provide academic input to informed policy-making in the next phase of the European Agenda on Migration. In his Foreword, Matthias Ruete, Director General of DG Home Affairs of the European Commission, writes: “This initiative aims to stimulate evidence-based policy-making and to bring fresh thinking to develop more effective policies. The European Commission welcomes the valuable contribution of this initiative to help close the wide gap in our knowledge about the smuggling of migrants, and especially the functioning of smuggling networks.”
In this book we set out to explore the conceptual challenges posed by the presence of migrants wi... more In this book we set out to explore the conceptual challenges posed by the presence of migrants with irregular immigration status in Europe and the evolving policy responses. In contrast to many earlier texts, our focus has been on irregular migrants living in Europe, not crossing its borders; and viewed not as a temporary crisis but as a continuing, structural feature of European societies. The drivers, forms, and consequences of irregular migration are nevertheless in transition and a key theme throughout has been that of change. Conceptual tools are needed to explain the complex social realities of this section of the migrant population; coupled with a need to unravel the legal and policy responses at the European, national and municipal levels: their drivers, multiple actors and potential future course.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2017
ABSTRACT This article explores the responses of European local authorities to the public service ... more ABSTRACT This article explores the responses of European local authorities to the public service needs of residents with irregular immigration status and the tensions with national governments to which this can give rise. Drawing on a study of responses by national and local tiers, including a mapping of national legal frameworks on entitlements to health care and education, it identifies factors that lead to divergence between local and national policy framing and responses. Finding that socio-economic and individual consequences of exclusion dominate in shaping local framing of policy responses in contrast to national government priorities, it explores the implications for modes of multi-level governance (MLG) on this issue. It expands on the concept in the literature of ‘decoupling’, contrasting relationships of overt conflict with low-visibility strategies of conflict avoidance; demonstrating the differing forms this ‘shadow politics’ of migrants’ rights and shadow provision of services can take, including arms-length provision through NGOs. Thus the dynamic of MLG is itself one part of explaining the nature of local responses to the challenges that migrants with irregular status can pose.
American Behavioral Scientist, 2016
This article explores the competing policy imperatives within and between tiers of government and... more This article explores the competing policy imperatives within and between tiers of government and policy makers’ perceptions of the relative “deservingness” of undocumented children, which contribute to an uneven geography of entitlements to public services across the European Union. While scholars have contrasted the formal exclusion of undocumented migrants with their informal inclusion, the article explores the tension between formal exclusion and formal inclusion: where the state, through granting legal entitlements to services, contradicts the logic of its own enforcement paradigm. The analysis presents the findings of a comprehensive mapping of entitlements to health care and education for undocumented children across the European Union’s 28 member states and draws on interviews with policy makers across 14 member states to explore the justification for entitlements granted at national and substate levels. It finds that competing policy imperatives are most acute in relation t...
Population Studies, 1995
Page 1. IMMIGRATION AS AN ECONOMIC ASSET The German Experience Edited by SARAH SPENCER Page 2. Pa... more Page 1. IMMIGRATION AS AN ECONOMIC ASSET The German Experience Edited by SARAH SPENCER Page 2. Page 3. ... Page 4. > Page 5. IMMIGRATION AS AN ECONOMIC ASSET the German Experience Edited by Sarah Spencer rm te IPPR/Trentham Books Page 6. ...
Ethnicities, 2016
In both policy and academic debates in Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, concern is increasingly e... more In both policy and academic debates in Britain, as elsewhere in Europe, concern is increasingly expressed over the implications of spousal immigration for ‘integration’. Continued practices of ‘homeland’ transnational marriage within some ethnic minority communities, in particular, are presented as problematic, and new immigration restrictions likely to particularly affect such groups are justified on the grounds of promoting integration. The evidence base to underpin this concern is, however, surprisingly limited and analysis is based on differing and often partial conceptualisations of integration. Through an examination of the evidence in recent studies, we interrogate the impact which spousal immigration can have within differing domains of integration. Exposing the complex processes at play we demonstrate the need for future research to deploy a nuanced, more comprehensive concept of integration if it is to avoid simplistic assertions that these forms of marriage migration have...
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