Language, Integration, and Investment: The Regulation of Diversity in the Context of Unemployment

Autor/inn/en	Flubacher, Mi-Cha; Coray, Renata; Duchêne, Alexandre
Titel	Language, Integration, and Investment: The Regulation of Diversity in the Context of Unemployment
Quelle	In: Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 35 (2016) 6, S.675-696 (22 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0167-8507
DOI	10.1515/multi-2015-0075
Schlagwörter	Unemployment; Cultural Pluralism; Immigrants; Language Proficiency; Second Languages; Ethnography; French; German; Geographic Regions; Foreign Countries; Role; Employment Potential; Labor Market; Public Policy; Second Language Learning; Switzerland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Arbeitslosigkeit; Kulturpluralismus; Immigrant; Immigrantin; Immigranten; Language skill; Language skills; Sprachkompetenz; Second language; Zweitsprache; Ethnografie; Französisch; Deutscher; Ausland; Rollen; Arbeitsmarktbezogene Qualifikation; Beschäftigungsfähigkeit; Labour market; Arbeitsmarkt; Öffentliche Ordnung; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Schweiz
Abstract	Drawing on an ethnography in regional employment offices in a French-German canton in Switzerland, it is the aim of this article to articulate the complexities involved in the practices revolving around and geared towards the role of language competences in the process of professional reintegration, particularly so with regards to migrants who speak a different language. When comparing two cases of unemployed migrant job seekers and the variable treatment by their respective consultants, we will discuss the logics, ideologies, and discourses underlying the institutional regulation of the diverse body of unemployed migrants. We argue that in particular two discourses emerged in our fieldwork that seem to frame the variable approaches: the discourse of "integration" and the discourse of "investment." It is in the interplay, tension, and confluence of the two discourses where "language" appears as a specific point of contestation. In other words: the consideration of language competences as productive for someone's employability finally appears as highly variable and contingent on individual factors. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	De Gruyter Mouton. Available from: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. 121 High Street, Third Floor, Boston, MA 02110. Tel: 857-284-7073; Fax: 857-284-7358; e-mail: service@degruyter.com; Web site: http://www.degruyter.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01