The politics of immigration policy formation: A comparative, intersectional analysis

Meng Lu, Purdue University

Abstract

In this study, I seek to understand why the governments of liberal democratic countries respond more or less positively to different immigrant groups, defined by gender, race/ethnicity, and class. I argue that disaggregating immigration policies according to which groups are advantaged or disadvantaged will reveal causal processes that are obscured when one considers immigrants as a single category. Adopting the intersectional approach into comparative immigration policy study, I delineate categories of gender, race and class that confront each social relation on its own terms. Then I examine the intersectional relationship among these categories as the complementary additive analysis and give focus on policy that deals with the intersectionally marginalized groups. More specifically, I rank national immigration policies according to which are the most women-friendly, the most race/ethnic minority-friendly, the most egalitarian in class terms, and the most favorable to multiply disadvantaged groups (migrant domestic workers). Second, I adopt a social-structural approach to comparing and explaining the policy outcomes across thirty industrial democratic countries. My result suggests that self-organization of immigrants, national identity, and institutionalism significantly shape policies relating to various immigrant groups. Most importantly, I argue that the different causal mechanisms behind policies affecting migrant domestic workers show that intersectional approach does offer insights that are not visible when one examines race, class and gender separately.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Weldon, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Political science|Ethnic studies

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