Multiculturalism, capability and human development: The Canadian immigration experience
- When?
- Monday 3 December 2007, 17:00 to 18:30
- Where?
- Room 04AD00, Department of Economics, University of Surrey
- Open to:
- Public, Staff, Students
- Speaker:
- Dr Susan Hodgett
Dr Susan Hodgett, University of Ulster, Belfast
Abstract
This talk will explore research currently being carried out by David Clark* and Susan Hodgett**
* Global Poverty Research Group, University of Manchester, UK
** School of Sociology and Applied Social Studies, University of Ulster, UK
Amartya Sen has revolutionised the way in which poverty and well-being are understood. In contrast to traditional economic concepts of well-being – based on utility (happiness, desire fulfilment) or resources (income, commodities, assets) – Sen’s approach is broad enough to capture the full range of capabilities people have reason to value. In our research we augment the capability approach and human development paradigm with insights from the livelihoods approach and recent attempts to analyse the dynamics of poverty in poor countries in order to develop a framework for investigating poverty and well-being in a multicultural context. This approach is used to investigate human values, the role of culture and identity and how these relate to, and interact with, other factors in shaping livelihoods and well-being among different groups of migrants in Canada, one of the First World’s foremost immigrant receiving societies. We also draw upon the values and experiences of immigrants to investigate whether Canadian multicultural policy has enabled migrants to achieve the kind of life they have reason to value. To this end, we explore the results of a modest number of qualitative interviews with migrants; and engage with civil servants and government officials in investigating the impact of multiculturalism in Canada on social cohesion and integration.