TY  - JOUR
A1  - Vietze, Jana
A1  - Schwarzenthal, Miriam
A1  - Moffitt, Ursula
A1  - Civitillo, Sauro
T1  - Beyond 'migrant background': how to select relevant, social justice oriented, and feasible social categories in educational research
JF  - European journal of psychology of education
N2  - Across continental Europe, educational research samples are often divided by 'migrant background', a binary variable criticized for masking participant heterogeneity and reinforcing exclusionary norms of belonging. 

This study endorses more meaningful, representative, and precise research by offering four guiding questions for selecting relevant, social justice oriented, and feasible social categories for collecting and analysing data in psychological and educational research. Using a preregistered empirical example, we first compare selected social categories ('migrant background', family heritage, religion, citizenship, cultural identification, and generation status) in their potential to reveal participant heterogeneity. 

Second, we investigate differences in means and relations between variables (discrimination experiences, perceived societal Islamophobia, and national identity) and academic motivation among 1335 adolescents in Germany (48% female, M-age = 14.69). Regression analyses and multigroup SEM revealed differential experiences with and implications of discrimination for academic motivation. 

Results highlight the need for a deliberate, transparent use of social categories to make discrimination visible and centre participants' subjective experiences.
KW  - migrant background
KW  - labels
KW  - social categories
KW  - discrimination
KW  - academic
KW  - motivation
KW  - national identity
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-022-00611-2
SN  - 0256-2928
SN  - 1878-5174
VL  - 38
IS  - 1
SP  - 389
EP  - 408
PB  - Springer
CY  - New York
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Moffitt, Ursula E.
A1  - Nardon, Luciara
A1  - Zhang, Hui
T1  - Becoming Canadian
BT  - immigrant narratives of professional attainment
JF  - International journal of intercultural relations
N2  - We investigate how economic immigrants in Canada negotiate their identity in the process of "becoming Canadian" through an analysis of public texts. Drawing on the master narrative framework, we examine the interplay between individual and societal narratives as immigrants grapple with the tension between notions of "desirable" immigrants as those that are well integrated professionally and the reality of facing career related barriers. Among those whose success stories align with the master narrative of professional attainment there was little questioning of this expectation, thereby allowing it to remain invisible. Among those who had not (yet) achieved work related success in the receiving country, they tended to engage alternative narratives elaborating on the antecedents, outcomes, and barriers to labor market participation. Despite the countering nature of these alternative narratives, they strengthen the societal expectation of professional success as a key pathway to inclusion, thereby reinforcing the rigidity of this narrative. We contribute to literature on the social construction of national identity by examining the process of becoming national and the role of labor market participation in immigrants' perceptions of inclusion in their new society. Our study highlights the importance of including immigrants' voices in the construction of a more inclusive society, which may aid in breaking down exclusionary narratives of national identity.
KW  - inclusion
KW  - national identity
KW  - identity work
KW  - markers of inclusion
KW  - immigrants
KW  - master narratives
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2019.06.004
SN  - 0147-1767
SN  - 1873-7552
VL  - 78
SP  - 84
EP  - 95
PB  - Elsevier
CY  - Oxford
ER  -