Is Multiculturalism Good for Immigrants?

Abstract

This article refl ects critically on a number of works which consider immigrant
inclusion processes from perspectives which view groups of
immigrants as cultural minorities defi ned by their collective identities. In
contrast to such perspectives, it proposes a conceptualisation of these
cultural groups as structural social groups, and their construction will
therefore be explained as arising from a similar position on social axes
of disadvantage, through structural social processes of inequality, such
as systemic racism, the division of labour, or the process of normalization.
Finally, a gender perspective is included in order to explain relational
processes of the social structure generated specifi cally by motives of
gender which, nonetheless, tend to be rendered invisible not only in
theoretical debates, but also in political discussions concerning
immigrant inclusion policies.