1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This project addresses that dynamic through a comparative analysis of Denmark and Canada, whose histories since World War II have shaped both official responses and dominant discourses in ways that position the two countries at near opposite ends of the spectrum of immigration responses in the Western world.» (p. iii)

Questions/Hypothèses :
«[T]his research project attempts to answer the question: what are the dynamics within which discourses and attitudes about immigration are shaped?» (p. 1)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
For the quantitative analysis, the Danish sample is composed of 1322 respondents and the Canadian sample has 1211 respondents. These data are from «[...] the International Social Survey Programme, a self-funded research network comprising researchers from 45 countries that carries out annual surveys in all member countries on subjects such as social networks, family and gender roles, social relations, etc.» (p. 38) For the qualitative analysis, the sample is composed of twenty respondents (nine in Danmark and eleven in Canada) and all of them work with immigration to some extent (as civil servants, journalists, politicians, researchers, and consultants).

Instruments :
- Questionnaire
- Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«The increasing pace of immigration to the Western world and the subsequent xenophobic backlashes to immigrants has created an urgent need for empirical research that examines the dynamics of immigration and xenophobia. [...] Moving away from linear, macro-level models employed in most immigration research, this project employs methods triangulation. [...] The research findings support the diversity hypothesis while also causing us to expand on it: not only is the receiving population’s negotiation of the national identity vis a vis diversity central in shaping responses to immigration, but the nature of the distinction between the ’self’ and the ’other’ is instrumental in this negotiation process. Furthermore, the level of society from which the identity negotiation process stems - whether group-based or focused on the individual - plays a large role in shaping the responses to immigration.» (p. 37) This research could interest family researchers because the family reunification and family conditions are discussed.