Editors: Kerry

The migrant presence has introduced different types of sporting, cultural and leisure pursuits traditionally practiced in the source countries to Australia. This has increased, for all Australians, the range and viability of available recreational activities and the manner in which such activities can be accessed or practised.

Employment status, education, language skills, health and time available for recreation and leisure are interlinked as fundamental components of human wellbeing. An increase in Australia’s overall stocks of human capital has also meant that migrants themselves have benefited from the migration experience.

While most migrants entering Australia are skilled, some humanitarian or preferential family groups are from disadvantaged backgrounds and, upon arrival in Australia, can lack education and English language skills. However, most have proven over time to be able to acquire qualifications and to do well. Furthermore, they are generally ambitious for their children to achieve and to have better opportunities in life.

Governments at all levels and society at large eventually bear any extra burdens of increased costs for welfare and other intervention services, for health care, and for loss of productive members of society and forgone opportunities if migrant workers with qualifications are unable to use their skills in the Australian working environment. Thus it is in the best interests of not only migrants but also the host community to maximise opportunities and facilitate environments in which persons can thrive. While good use is made in Australia of migrants’ human capital, some factors which apparently extend adjustment time have received attention in the literature. These include problems associated with overseas qualifications being recognised or under- utilised in the workplace due to potential transferability gaps.

There seems to be no doubt that Australia’s stock of human capital has gained from migration and that migrants themselves have also reaped benefits. An increasingly globalised society especially with respect to labour has Australia competing with other traditional migrant destination countries for skilled migrants. The ability to attract migrants will probably be influenced by their perceptions about Australian society in general and the ease with which settlement and social integration can be accomplished. These aspects are explored in the next chapter through an examination of social capital.

4: Social Capital

The idea of social capital is highly relevant to an examination of the social impacts of immigration. ‘Social capital’ refers to the relations of trust, co- operation and mutual aid that are fostered by ‘norms and networks of civic engagement’ and which provide the vital underpinnings of effective government, productive economies, productive diversity, healthy populations and socially cohesive communities (Putnam 2000). One of the crucial characteristics of social capital is its transferability. Social capital is deemed to be transferable to the extent that the networks, norms and trust built on the basis of one common purpose can be used for another. Another feature of social capital is that it can generate unintended effects. This is called an externality. These third party effects can be positive when the social connectedness generated by one activity can make other social interactions easier. They can also be negative when social divisiveness and an erosion of social capital can lead to friction within a community. Above all, the impact of social capital has a distinct spatial field of operation, with the intensity of the effect tapering away as distance from the activity in question increases (Pinch

1985).

These two elements of social capital – its transferability and externality effect

– make the prospect of increasing social capital an attractive idea for policy- makers (see Productivity Commission 2003). The concept of social capital suggests that there may be some public benefit to be derived from formal and informal volunteering in sports, arts, education, youth groups, church organisations, and emergency services even where these activities do not substitute directly for government provision. These forms of public association encourage civic engagement. Any form of civic engagement fosters more civic engagement. As a result, tiny investments can build up a significant stock of social capital (Putnam 2000). Perhaps the single greatest benefit of immigration is that it modifies existing social capital and encourages the continual evaluation of established norms and relationships, usually to our considerable benefit. In short immigration accelerates the churning of social capital in ways described below.

Directory: sites -> default -> files -> documents -> 01 2014
documents -> Ace abi catair customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements
documents -> Mobile audio/video recording systems
documents -> The south australian government gazette
documents -> All public acts appearing in this gazette are to be considered official, and obeyed as such
documents -> Union interparlementaire inter-parliamentary union
01 2014 -> Voices Shaping the
01 2014 -> Muslim Voices – Hopes and aspirations of Muslim Australians Centre for Muslim Minorities & Islam Policy Studies
01 2014 -> Prepared by: Kais Al‐Momani Nour Dados Marion Maddox Amanda Wise C

Download 18.21 Mb.

Share with your friends: