Abstract
The immigration debate in France and Netherlands, 2010-2102: scope and limits of the demographic approach
Demographers usually pretend to oppose facts to myths, science to illusion, when facing the public debates around sensitive issues such as immigration. The “fact-checking” attitude recently adopted by the media seems to comfort this classical opposition. However, the capacity of scientists to elaborate neutral and undisputed facts meets more and more scepticism. Demographers seem to enjoy no privilege at all to proclaim any scientific truth over “integration criteria”, “ethnic statistics”, “European values” challenged by Islam, not to mention the very definition of “migrants” or “migration background”.
In order to address more concretely this kind of issues, a systematic comparison will be made here of the immigration debates held in France and in the Netherlands in the years 2010-2012, with a special stress on the role played by social scientists. Three topics will be selected: the definition of “immigrés” and “allochtoon”, the “halal” or “ritual slaughter” controversy and the transmission of national “norms and values” to non-European migrants.
Demographers usually pretend to oppose facts to myths, science to illusion, when facing the public debates around sensitive issues such as immigration. The “fact-checking” attitude recently adopted by the media seems to comfort this classical opposition. However, the capacity of scientists to elaborate neutral and undisputed facts meets more and more scepticism. Demographers seem to enjoy no privilege at all to proclaim any scientific truth over “integration criteria”, “ethnic statistics”, “European values” challenged by Islam, not to mention the very definition of “migrants” or “migration background”.
In order to address more concretely this kind of issues, a systematic comparison will be made here of the immigration debates held in France and in the Netherlands in the years 2010-2012, with a special stress on the role played by social scientists. Three topics will be selected: the definition of “immigrés” and “allochtoon”, the “halal” or “ritual slaughter” controversy and the transmission of national “norms and values” to non-European migrants.
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Event ID
17
Paper presenter
47 901
Type of Submissions
Regular session presentation, if not selected I agree to present my paper as a poster
Language of Presentation
English
First Choice History
Initial First Choice
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Weight in Programme
1 000
Status in Programme
1