559
Social Risks of the International Youth Migration
Language: English
The present session addresses the study of social risks of international migration and welcomes contributions focusing on young people who constitute the core of migration flows.
Despite the high mobility and adaptability, compared to other age groups young people have little social, cultural and economic capital, which is largely due to the often complicated socio-economic situation of donor countries.
In many recipient countries young migrants face the problem of social integration in its cultural, structural, interactional and identity dimensions. In addition to the lack of capital the social integration of migrants encounters a number of barriers: institutional (contradictory and restrictive nature of migration policies and legislation, drawbacks of law enforcement practice concerning the rights of migrants, the widespread corruption among controlling agencies in many countries, speculation on the topic of migration in political and media discourses), interactive (discriminatory actions of the host population, including radical anti-migrant social movements) and cultural (the xenophobia of the host population, ethnocentrists and racist biases).
The lack of capital and barriers to the integration of young migrants lead to the emergence of new social inequalities in economy, education, social welfare (in particular health), housing, culture, and politics. New social inequalities are manifested in the form of ethnic stratification, segregation, and marginalization. This situation enhances social risks affecting all participants of the migration process: the migrants themselves, the host communities and the donor societies.