Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton August 11, 2016

Language, integration, and investment: The regulation of diversity in the context of unemployment

  • Mi-Cha Flubacher EMAIL logo , Renata Coray and Alexandre Duchêne
From the journal Multilingua

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.

Appendix: Transcription conventions

[  ]

simultaneous speech

=

unfinished utterance

(-), (–), (—)

short, medium, long pause

(2)

duration of pause longer than 1 second

CAP

emphasis

/

rising intonation

\

falling intonation

(...)

ommitted passage

((xxx))

action by speaker

References

Adami, Hervé & Véronique Leclercq (eds.). 2012. Les migrants face aux langues des pays d’accueil [Migrants facing the languages of host countries]. Villeneuve d’Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.10.4000/books.septentrion.14056Search in Google Scholar

Allan, Kori. 2013. Skilling the self: The communicability of immigrants as flexible labour. In Alexandre Duchêne, Melissa Moyer & Celia Roberts (eds.), Language, migration and social inequalities. A critical sociolinguistic perspective on institutions and work, 56–78. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781783091010-004Search in Google Scholar

Bauman, Richard & Charles L. Briggs. 2003. Voices of modernity: Language ideologies and the politics of inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486647Search in Google Scholar

Blommaert, Jan & Jef Verschueren. 1998. The role of language in European nationalist ideologies. In Bambi B. Schieffelin, Kathryn A. Wollard & Paul V. Kroskrity (eds.), Language ideologies: Practice and theory, 189–210. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Boutet, Josiane & Monica Heller. 2007. Enjeux sociaux de la sociolinguistique: pour une sociolinguistique critique [Social challenges of sociolinguistics: In favour of a critical sociolinguistics]. Langage et société 3(121–122). 305–318.10.3917/ls.121.0305Search in Google Scholar

Codó, Eva. 2008. Immigration and bureaucratic control: Language practices in public administration. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110199086Search in Google Scholar

Conter, Bernard. 2011. L’accompagnement des chômeurs en Belgique dans les discours politico-administratifs [The accompanying of unemployed in Belgium in political-administrative discourses]. Langage et société 137(3). 75–90.10.3917/ls.137.0075Search in Google Scholar

Curti, Monica & Marc Geiger. 1998. Evaluation arbeitsmarktlicher Massnahmen am Beispiel von Sprachkursen [The evaluation of labour market measures by the example of language courses]. Die Volkswirtschaft 1. 48–53.Search in Google Scholar

Degen, Bernhard. 1993. Zur Geschichte der Arbeitslosigkeit in der Schweiz [On the history of unemployment in Switzerland]. Widerspruch 25. 37–46.Search in Google Scholar

Duchêne, Alexandre. 2008. Ideologies across nations: The construction of linguistic minorities at the United Nations. Berlin & New York: De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110208313Search in Google Scholar

Duchêne, Alexandre. 2016. Investissement langagier et économie politique [Language investment and the political economy]. Langage et société 157. 73–96.10.3917/ls.157.0073Search in Google Scholar

Duchêne, Alexandre, Melissa Moyer & Celia Roberts (eds.). 2013. Language, migration and social inequalities. A critical sociolinguistic perspective on institutions and work. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781783091010Search in Google Scholar

Duchêne, Alexandre, Pascal Singy, Renata Coray, Mi-Cha Flubacher, Seraphina Zurbriggen & Isaac Pante. 2015. Öffentliche Arbeitsvermittlung und Sprachkompetenzen [Public unemployment services and language competences]. Fribourg: Research Centre on Multilingualism. www.centre-multilingualism.ch/access-to-labour-market.html (accessed 4 August 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Erb, Tony. 2010. Arbeitsmarktliche Massnahmen als Instrument einer aktiven Arbeitsmarktpolitik [Labour market measures as an instrument of an active labour market policy]. Die Volkswirtschaft 7/8. 39–42.Search in Google Scholar

Extra, Guus, Massimiliano Spotti & Piet Van Avermaet (eds.). 2009. Language testing, migration and citizenship: Cross-national perspectives on integration regimes. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar

Ferro-Luzzi, Giovanni, José Ramirez, Yves Flückiger & Anatole Vassiliev. 2003. Untersuchung der Methoden, mittels derer die Wirksamkeit der Regionalen Arbeitsvermittlungszentren (RAV) evaluiert wird, Zusammenfassender Bericht, NFP Projekt 45 [Analysis of evaluation methods of the effectiveness of Regional Employment Offices (REO), Synthesis, NRP Project 45]. www.snf.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/nfp/nfp45/NFP45_FerroLuzziDeutsch_SB.pdf (accessed 29 March 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Flubacher, Mi-Cha. 2014. Integration durch Sprache – die Sprache der Integration. Eine kritische Diskursanalyse zur Rolle der Sprache in der Schweizer und Basler Integrationspolitik 1998–2008 [Integration through language – the language of integration. A critical discourse analysis on the role of language in the integration policy of Switzerland and Basel]. Wien: Vienna University Press.10.14220/9783737002035Search in Google Scholar

Foucault, Michel. 1971. L’ordre du discours [The order of discourse]. Paris: Gallimard.Search in Google Scholar

Foucault, Michel. 1969. L’archéologie du savoir [The archaeology of knowledge]. Paris: Gallimard.Search in Google Scholar

Gerfin, Michael & Michael Lechner. 2000. Evaluationsprogramm Arbeitsmarktpolitik: Ökonometrische Evaluation der arbeitsmarktlichen Massnahmen [Evaluation programme of labour market policy: Econometric evaluation of labour market measures]. SECO-Studie, n°7. www.seco.admin.ch/seco/de/home/Publikationen_Dienstleistungen/Publikationen_und_Formulare/Arbeit/Arbeitsmarkt/Informationen_Arbeitsmarktforschung/arbeitsmarktpolitik-nr–07–evaluationsprogramm-arbeitsmarktpoli.htm (accessed 29 March 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Heller, Monica. 2002. Eléments d’une sociolinguistique critique [Elements of a critical sociolinguistics]. Paris: LAL, Didier.Search in Google Scholar

Hobsbawm, Eric. 1990. Nations and nationalisms since 1780: Programme, myth, reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar

Hogan-Brun, Gabriele, Clare Mar-Molinero & Patrick Stevenson (eds.). 2009. Discourses on language and integration: Critical perspectives on language testing regimes in Europe. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/dapsac.33Search in Google Scholar

Lalive d’Epiney, Rafael & Josef Zweimüller. 2000. Evaluationsprogramm Arbeitsmarktpolitik: Arbeitsmarktliche Massnahmen und Anspruch auf Arbeitslosenentschädigung (und die Dauer der Arbeitslosigkeit). Ergebnisse einer Evaluationsstudie [Evaluation programme of labour market policy: Labour market measures and the right to unemployment benefits (and the duration of unemployment). Results of an evaluation study]. SECO-Studie, n°6. www.seco.admin.ch/seco/de/home/Publikationen_Dienstleistungen/Publikationen_und_Formulare/Arbeit/Arbeitsmarkt/Informationen_Arbeitsmarktforschung/arbeitsmarktpolitik-nr–06–evaluationsprogramm-arbeitsmarktpoli.html (accessed 29 March 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Lechner, Michael, Markus Frölich & Heidi Steiger. 2004. Untersuchungen zur Struktur und Dynamik der Arbeitslosigkeit in der Schweiz [An analysis of the structure and dynamics of unemployment in Switzerland]. www.snf.ch/SiteCollectionDocuments/nfp/nfp43_lechner_synthesis16.pdf (accessed 29 March 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Magnin, Chantal. 2005. Beratung und Kontrolle: Widersprüche in der staatlichen Bearbeitung von Arbeitslosigkeit [Consultation and control: Contradictions in the governmental handling of unemployment]. Zürich: Seismo.Search in Google Scholar

Magnin, Chantal. 2004. “Aktive Arbeitsmarktpolitik” als staatlich verordnete Flexibilisierung. Die Rekonstruktion aktueller Praxis der schweizerischen Arbeitslosenversicherung am Beispiel eines Beratungsgesprächs [“Active labour market policy” as state decreed flexibilisation. The reconstruction of the current practice of the Swiss unemployment insurance by the example of a consultation]. In Michael Nollert, Hanno Scholtz & Patrick Ziltener (eds.), Wirtschaft in soziologischer Perspektive: Diskurs und empirische Analysen [The economy from a sociological perspective: Discourse and empirical analyses], 31–47. Münster: LIT Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

Marcus, George E. 1995. Ethnography in/of the world system: The emergence of multi-sited ethnography. Annual Review of Anthropology 24. 95–117.10.1146/annurev.an.24.100195.000523Search in Google Scholar

Marti, Michael & Stephan, Osterwalder. 2006. Wirkungen der arbeitsmarktlichen Massnahmen auf den schweizerischen Arbeitsmarkt [Effects of labour market measures on the Swiss labour market]. Die Volkswirtschaft 10. 18–21.Search in Google Scholar

Michalowski, Ines. 2010. Integration tests in Germany: A communitarian approach? In Rick Van Oers, Eva Ersbøll & Dora Kostakopoulo (eds.). A re-definition of belonging? Language and integration tests in Europe, 185–210. Leiden & Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.Search in Google Scholar

Milani, Tommaso M. 2008. Language testing and citizenship: A language ideological debate in Sweden. Language in Society 37(1). 27–59.10.1017/S0047404508080020Search in Google Scholar

Piller, Ingrid. 2001. Naturalization language testing and its basis in ideologies of nationality and citizenship. The International Journal of Bilingualism 5(3). 259–277.10.1177/13670069010050030201Search in Google Scholar

Piguet, Etienne. 2013. L’immigration en Suisse: Soixante ans d’entrouverture [Immigration in Switzerland: Sixty years of half-opening]. Lausanne: Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes.Search in Google Scholar

Plutzar, Verena. 2010. Sprache als “Schlüssel” zur Integration? Eine kritische Annäherung an die österreichische Sprachenpolitik im Kontext von Migration [Language as “key” to integration? A critical approach to Austrian language policy in the context of migration]. In Herbert Langthaler (ed.). Integration in Österreich. Sozialwissenschaftliche Befunde [Integration in Austria. Findings in social sciences], 123–142. Innsbruck: Studien Verlag.Search in Google Scholar

Pochon-Berger, Evelyne & Peter Lenz. 2014. Language requirements and language testing for immigration and integration purposes: A synthesis of academic literature. Fribourg: Institute of Multilingualism. www.centre-multilingualism.ch/documents/Documentation/Resid_IPL_EN_05%2006%202014_web2.pdf (accessed 4 August 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Semadeni, Flurina. 2012. Chancen und Grenzen im System. Die Anerkennung von Kompetenzen im Rahmen von arbeitsmarktlichen Massnahmen [Opportunities and limits within the system. The recognition of competences in the framework of labour market measures]. Paper presented at the conference “Kompetenzen aber kein Diplom” [Competences but no diploma], Berne, 29 March. www.arbeits-integration.ch/media/files/Referat-Semadeni.pptx (accessed 29 March 2016).Search in Google Scholar

Silverstein, Michael. 1996. Monoglot “Standard” in America: Standardization and metaphors of linguistic hegemony. In Donald Brenneis & Ronald Macauley (eds.), The matrix of language: Contemporary linguistic anthropology, 284–306. Boulder: Westview Press.10.4324/9780429496288-18Search in Google Scholar

Spescha, Geli. 2006. Arbeitsmarktliche Massnahmen und ihre Wirkung: Ein Diskurs [Labour market measures and their effects: a discourse]. Die Volkswirtschaft 10. 34–37.Search in Google Scholar

Slade, Christina & Martina Möllering. 2010. From migrant to citizen: Testing language, testing culture. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9780230281400Search in Google Scholar

Van Oers, Rick, Eva Ersbøll & Dora Kostakopoulo (eds.). 2010. A re-definition of belonging? Language and integration tests in Europe. Leiden & Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.10.1163/ej.9789004175068.i-332Search in Google Scholar

Zimmermann, Martina (2016). Researching student mobility in multilingual Switzerland: Reflections on multi-sited ethnography. In: Marylin Martin-Jones & Deirdre Martin (eds.), Researching multilingualism: Critical and ethnographic approaches. Oxford: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2016-8-11
Published in Print: 2016-11-1

©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton

Downloaded on 22.9.2023 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/multi-2015-0075/html
Scroll to top button