La formación de la "España inmigrante"

Mercado y ciudadanía

Abstract

This article begins by recalling the quadruple mutation of the European migratory system
and indicating the start of a new phase linked to new migratory movements, new Community
regulations and the challenges of multiculturalism in Europe. Using F. Dassetto’s concept of
«migratory cycle», we find a periodization of immigration in Spain in three stages: before 1985,
from then until 2000, and from 2000 onwards, indicating the existence of «important strange
events» that produce a «marked change in the flow of migratory events» in Spain between these
phases.
The second part of the article attempts to explain that what marks the transition from the
first to the second stage with the arrival of a «new immigration» is the dominant presence of
factors linked to the market inside Spain which make it assimilated to the «first moment» of the
migratory cycle because of the predominance of the salary relationship and social exclusion.
The explanation for the appearance of this «market» effect is the radical change that has been
occurring in Spain in the conditions of the «level of acceptability» of indigenous workers and the
causes of such changes. This «market» effect is what explains the concentration of immigrants in
some classifiable branches of activity within secondary labour markets.
The article only points out the events that occur around 2000 which create «immigrant
Spain» and which are related to the problems of the second and third «moment» of the migratory
cycle (the second: family regrouping, cultural adaptation, schooling, health and housing challenges;
and the third: co-inclusion, challenges posed by citizenship, multicultural aspects and the political
rights of immigrants).
LORENZO CACHÓN RODRÍGUEZ
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