Focusing on the necessity of social integration of marriage migration females, this thesis investigated their social integration types by analysing the interaction between their individual conditions and their social integration processes.
As for the ...
Focusing on the necessity of social integration of marriage migration females, this thesis investigated their social integration types by analysing the interaction between their individual conditions and their social integration processes.
As for the theoretical foundations of this topic, to begin with, international imbalances invoked by globalization, women's proletariatization and causes of female marriage migrations were discussed on the basis of World System Theory. In addition, social integration theories from classic sociology to modern sociology were examined. The aspects of social integration were explored according to Offe's perspective. Offe defined social integration as consistent, stable, and trustful behaviors, and divided its dimension into political, cultural and economic. Social integration strategies by each nation for migrants were dealt with based on Castels and Miller's discussions. Castels and Miller classified models of individual nation's acceptance of migrants into discrimination and exclusion, assimilation, and multiculturalism. Migrants' integration types were discussed mainly on the basis of Wirth, Portes, Rumbaut, Zhou, Berry. Their arguments commonly reveal that migrants are getting adjusted and integrated into their settlements in a various way.
A framework for data analysis was set up on the assumption that social integration of marriage migration females could be classified into Assimilation, Multiculturalism, Marginalization and Isolation types, in terms of the interaction between the females' individual conditions (nationality, family background, education, marriage motivation) and dimensions of social integration (political, economic, cultural, and domestic). 16 marriage migration females living in Pusan had in-depth interviews. The interviews were conducted specifically to find out individual conditions such as nationality, family background, education and marriage motivation, and dimensions of social integration into settlements such as economic, domestic, political and cultural.
The results from the analysis are as follows.
The cases of Assimilation type included those females who were mostly from Thailand or the Philippines, high school graduates and of the lower classes. Concerning marriage motivation, there were differences among the cases but there were also common things: the females had married to leave their homelands and settle down in Korea and the females themselves made decisions on their intermarriage. In the economic dimension, at their early marriage days, the migrant females commonly had experienced 3D industry work which is avoided by most Koreans. Even though they kept trying to get a job, the females failed to reenter the labor market after having got out of it due to their pregnancy. In the domestic dimension, there were few tensions among family members and the migrant females positively accepted the Korean patriarchal family culture while making efforts to improve their positions and roles in their families. In the political dimension, they showed obvious tendency to try to acquire Korean nationality but some of them could not because of the complicate situations of their homelands. Regarding the cultural dimension, they followed Korean culture actively rather than their homeland culture, showing highly receptive capacity in accepting Korean culture.
The cases of Multiculturalism types included entirely females who were from China, graduates ranging from middle schools to universities and from the lower classes except for one case. Their marriage motivations were various: some had married to overcome poverty and others had married because of love for their spouses. However, they all had a common motivation for marriage: to come into Korea. The females of Multiculturalism type kept working from the beginning of their marriage and showed apparent tendency to proceed to specific areas of the labor market. In the domestic dimension, the females were satisfied with their marriage life because they thought their husbands had been sincere and responsible. In addition, the multiculturalism type females had received more consideration from their mother-in-laws, compared with those of the other social integration types. Concerning children education, they had difficulty in dealing with their children's maladjustment to kindergarten or school lives. They tried to implant strong Chinese identity in their children while they had a plan to have their children enrolled at a Chinese school in Korea. In the political dimension, they acquired Korean nationality in consideration of their children rather than of their permanent stay in Korea. In the cultural dimension, they kept both Koran culture and their own Chinese culture.
The cases of Marginalization type embraced females who were mostly from Thailand or Vietnam, graduates from high schools or lower institutes, and from the lower classes. They chose marriage immigration to overcome poverty. In the economic dimension, the females of Marginalization type had no work experience because of opposition from family members in spite of their financial hardship. In the domestic dimension, they were suffering from conflicts in their family relationships such as their husbands' economic incompetence, interference and suspicion from their mother-in-laws, and their husbands' nonrecognition of them as a wife. In the political dimension, the migrant females were in the state of no Korean nationality but highly interested in acquiring it. In terms of the cultural dimension, they actively accepted Korean culture but hardly kept their homeland culture.
The cases of Isolation type included the migrant females from Thailand, Vietnam or China, of the high middle classes and with degrees of high schools or higher education. There were various motivations for marriage such as persuasion from their parents, affection, desire to stay in Korea. Regarding the economic dimension, the females had not been involved in the labor market. In the domestic dimension, they had severe conflicts in family relationships because of their disappointment toward marriage life, the patriarchal Korean family culture, their husbands' financial incompetence and so on. As for the political dimension, the females did not acquire Korean nationality due to conflicts in their family relationships. In the cultural dimension, the Isolation type females all did not follow Korean culture.