Reply to Pierre Moret

I would like to thank Pierre Moret for his praises -which I certainly do not deserve- as well as for his valuable comments and criticisms. An intellectual discussion with such a prominent scholar is a satisfying experience, even if I do not wholly agree with his opinions. His reactions are related to three different topics: the definition of the geographical area covered in my article; the role of population increase in social evolution and the role of migrations.

Migration Flows and Quality of Life in a Metropolitan Area: the Case of Barcelona-Spain

The phenomenon of human migration is certainly not new and it has been studied from a variety of perspectives. Yet, the attention on human migration and its determinant has not been fading over time as confirmed by recent contributions (see for instance Cushing and Poot 2004 and Rebhun and Raveh 2006). In this paper we combine the recent theoretical contributions by Douglas (1997) and Wall (2001) with the methodological advancements of Guimarães et al. (2000, 2003) to model inter-municipal migration flows in the Barcelona area. In order to do that, we employ two different types of count models, i.e. the Poisson and negative binomial and compare the estimations obtained. Our results show that, even after controlling for the traditional migration factors, QoL (measured with a Composite Index which includes numerous aspects and also using a list of individual variables) is an important determinant of short distance migration movements in the Barcelona area.

Els joves que viuen entre cultures: un nou repte educatiu

Aquest article és una aproximació a l'estudi de la mal anomenada segona generació d'immigrants per a poder comprendre com viuen aquests joves entre cultures. ¿Quins sentiments i conductes genera aquesta situació? ¿Amb qui i quan se veu en la necessitat d'identificar-se amb un o altre grup? ¿Com es situa amb respecte a la cultura majoritària i al grup familiar d'origen? ¿Quins són els seus grups de participació i pertenença? ¿Quines respostes reben del seu entorn? ¿Aquesta situació és vivida com un avantatge o com un desavantatge?. En definitiva, es tracta d'abordar i analitzar comprensivament les avantatges i les dificultats d'aquesta generació que viu "entre cultures" i s'ofereix un model explicatiu denominat "Model de pertenença i competències culturals". També s'exposen algunes recomanacions educatives amb l'objectiu d'optimitzar els processos educatius i que les avantatges de les seves competències pluriculturals puguin ser aplocables a tot l'alumnat e incorporat al currículum del futur.

Resiliencia y persistencia académica en estudiantes inmigrantes

This article presents some of the results of a research project whose main objective was to analyse the relationship between resilience and school success of students of foreign origin at a time of special academic vulnerability: the transition from compulsory secondary education (ESO) to post-compulsory education (PO). By non-probabilistic-incidental sampling, the study was conducted in four schools of Barcelona and province, with 94 participants from 15 to 18 years old. This research of a longitudinal design had five phases combining strategies to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The results presented here are the result of the SV-RES adapted scale and two other self-produced toolsa center scale and a general questionnaire. The results obtained have confirmed the fulfilment of the hypothesis: immigrant students who manage to persevere in post-compulsory stages (Spanish Baccalaureate and/or Vocational Training) show higher levels of resilience.

Children left behind during immigration: repercussions on the mental health of Latin-American mothers and fathers

Emigrating and having to leave children behind may be a risk factor for the mental health of immigrants. This study aimed to compare the psychological symptoms reported by immigrants mothers and fathers who took their children with them with those who left their children behind. The sample comprised 213 Latin American immigrants (123 women and 90 men). The results showed that mothers who did not have children with them reported more psychological symptoms than those who did. Few differences were observed in the case of fathers, except that those who had their children with them reported more symptoms related with somatization. After controlling for possible confounding variables ('time since immigration', ·having a job', 'legal status', and social support') it is concluded that for mothers not being accompanied by own's children explains the largest proportion of the psychological synptoms analyzed, although the time since immigration also accounts for some of the variance in the case of depressive sympthomatology and general distress. It is likely that the despair and frustation felt by mothers grows as time goes on and they remain unable to reunite the family. These results may be useful in terms of designing prevention and intervention programs with immigrants mothers.

Escenarios del impacto de la inmigración en la longevidad y dependencia de los mayores en la población española

Introduction: The composition of the Spanish population has recently changed due to immigration. The present study aimed to estimate the magnitude of change in the calculation of healthy life expectancy and life expectancy in disability, taking the population of foreign residents into account. For this population, there is no information on mortality or the prevalence of disability. Material and methods: Data were extracted from the 1999 Survey on Disabilities, Handicaps and Health Status to estimate healthy life expectancy and life expectancy in disability using the Sullivan method. Data were taken from the Spanish Statistical Institute and the World Health Organization, Sullivan's method was adapted to the case of two different populations, and possible scenarios were established. Results: The differences between the mortality table estimated for the foreign resident population and that estimated for the Spanish population were considerable and were more evident in women. At 65 years of age and in the worst scenario, which occurs when all the members of the foreign resident population are disabled, life expectancy in disability would be 2 more years for men and 3 more years for women than when the foreign population was not considered. Conclusions: Our scenarios reveal that the impact of immigration on the calculation of healthy life expectancy and life expectancy in disability is moderate.

Escenarios del impacto de la inmigración en la longevidad y dependencia de los mayores en la población española

Introduction: The composition of the Spanish population has recently changed due to immigration. The present study aimed to estimate the magnitude of change in the calculation of healthy life expectancy and life expectancy in disability, taking the population of foreign residents into account. For this population, there is no information on mortality or the prevalence of disability. Material and methods: Data were extracted from the 1999 Survey on Disabilities, Handicaps and Health Status to estimate healthy life expectancy and life expectancy in disability using the Sullivan method. Data were taken from the Spanish Statistical Institute and the World Health Organization, Sullivan's method was adapted to the case of two different populations, and possible scenarios were established. Results: The differences between the mortality table estimated for the foreign resident population and that estimated for the Spanish population were considerable and were more evident in women. At 65 years of age and in the worst scenario, which occurs when all the members of the foreign resident population are disabled, life expectancy in disability would be 2 more years for men and 3 more years for women than when the foreign population was not considered. Conclusions: Our scenarios reveal that the impact of immigration on the calculation of healthy life expectancy and life expectancy in disability is moderate.

Reconsidering the "policy gap":policy implementation and outcomes in Spain

By analysing entry policies and regularisation procedures in Spain from the 1990s to 2007, this article examines how the mismatch between very restrictive immigration policies and increasing foreign labour demands translated into a model of illegal migration, which in turn gave rise to the need to carry out periodical regularisation drives. This double 'policy gap' between legality and reality, and between entry policies and regularisation procedures, is explained as a policy in itself and as a way to solve in practice the apparently unsolvable dilemma between the demands for closure and the insatiable demands for foreign workers.

Disentangling the link between health and social capital: A comparison of immigrant and native-born populations in Spain

An increasing body of research has pointed to the relevance of social capital in studying a great variety of socio-economic phenomena, ranging from economics growth and development to educational attainment and public health. Conceptually, our paper is framed within the debates about the possible links between health and social capital, on one hand, and within the hypotheses regarding the importance of social and community networks in all stages of the dynamics of international migration, on the other hand. Our primary objective is to explore the ways social relations contribute to health differences between the immigrants and the native-born population of Spain. We also try to reveal differences in the nature of the social networks of foreign-born, as compared to that of the native-born persons. The empirical analysis is based on an individual-level data coming from the 2006 Spanish Health Survey, which contains a representative sample of the immigrant population. To assess the relationship between various health indicators (self-assessed health, chronic conditions and long-term illness) and social capital, controlling for other covariates, we estimate multilevel models separately for the two population groups of interest. In the estimates we distinguish between individual and community-level social capital. While the Health Survey contains information that allows us to define individual social capital measures, the collective indicators come from other official sources. In particular, for the subsample of immigrants, we proxy community-level networks and relationships by variables contained in the Spanish National Survey of Immigrants 2007. The results obtained so far point to the relevance of social capital as a covariate in the health equation, although, the significance varies according to the specific health indicator used. Additionally, and contrary to what is expected, immigrants’ social networks seem to be inferior to those of the native-born population in many aspects; and they also affect immigrant’s health to a lesser extent. Policy implications of the findings are discussed. Keywords: health status, social capital, immigration, Spain

De lo analógico a lo digital. El futuro de la enseñanza de la composición

Las prácticas lectoras están cambiando a causa de factores múltiples: leemos otro tipo de textos, con objetivos también más ambiciosos, en contextos nuevos, que nunca antes habían existido. Analizamos algunos de los matices que ha adoptado la práctica de la lectura en este inicio del siglo XXI, desde esta perspectiva sociocultural.

The Catalan migration to New York. A view from La Llumanera de Nova York (1874-1881)

The first issue of La Llumanera de Nova York came out in November 1874 and was not published until 1881. The challenge was certainly complicated: editing a newspaper in Catalan in New York, with the aim of influencing a group of potential readers who were distributed in the United States and, at the same time, become a medium that would bring the ideas of a new era, both from a political and cultural point of view

Disparities in work, risk and health between immigrants and native-born Spaniards

We analyse the impact of working and contractual conditions, particularly exposure to job risks, on the probability of acquiring a permanent disability, controlling for other personal and firm characteristics. We postulate a model in which this impact is mediated by the choice of occupation, with a level of risk associated with it. We assume this choice is endogenous, and that it depends on preferences and opportunities in the labour market, both of which may differ between immigrants and natives. To test this hypothesis we apply a bivariate probit model to data for 2006 from the Continuous Sample of Working Lives provided by the Spanish Social Security system, containing records for over a million workers. We find that risk exposure increases the probability of permanent disability arising from any cause - by almost 5%.

Migration and information flows. A new lens for the study of contemporary international migration

Aquest document de treball mira d'establir un nou camp d'investigació a la cruïlla entre els fluxos de migració i d'informació i comunicació. Hi ha diversos factors que fan que valgui la pena adoptar aquesta perspectiva. El punt central és que la migració internacional contemporània és incrustada en la dinàmica de la societat de la informació, seguint models comuns i dinàmiques interconnectades. Per consegüent, s'està començant a identificar els fluxos d'informació com a qüestions clau en les polítiques de migració. A més, hi ha una manca de coneixement empíric en el disseny de xarxes d'informació i l'ús de les tecnologies d'informació i comunicació en contextos migratoris. Aquest document de treball també mira de ser una font d'hipòtesis per a investigacions posteriors.

Warlike outlines of the securitarian state. Life control and the exclusion of people

Present book collects some of the thoughts developed during the 5 years (2004-2009) of work in the frame of the CHALLENGE project, "The Changing Landscape of European Liberty and Security". The project has related academic knowledge and research with the analysis of the policies and practices of the member States of the European Union [EU] around the couple liberty and security

Los mediadores culturales: puente entre progenitores de las minorías éticas y la institución escolar

La participación de los padres en los centros escolares suscita un interés reiteradamente manifestado desde diferentes instancias, principalmente la administración y las asociaciones de padres. Esta participación no es idéntica en toda la población; un grupo que en general ha sido etiquetado como poco participativo son los gitanos que, además, en muchos casos, presentan una valoración diferente de la utilidad de la escuela. Por otro lado, otro de los colectivos, muy hetereogéneo internamente como el de los gitanos, que despierta curiosidad en cuanto a la actitud respecto a la educación es el de los inmigrantes -principalmente los procedentes del llamado Tercer Mundo. Ante esto, a partir de estudios que tratan estos aspectos, algunos realizados por nosotros mismos, analizamos la perticipación de estas minorías en la escuela. Dados los resultados, fijándonos en la experiencia del Quebec, consideramos interesante desarrollar la figura del mediador como un profesional que puede incrementar la comunicación entre centro y familia, relación que se ve influenciada por barreras lingüísticas, socioeconómicas, culturales e institucionales.