Monograph examining the living conditions and related sociological aspects of migrant workers residing in Germany, Federal Republic - reviews the evolution of migration in Western Europe since 1945, focuses on housing, social stratification and social integration of guestworkers in West germany, considers their civil rights and political participation, and investigates social policies and educational policies concerning migrant education programmes for immigrant children. Bibliography pp. 247 to 258, references and statistical tables.

Turkish Guest Workers in Germany tells the post-war story of Turkish "guest workers," whom West German employers recruited to fill their depleted ranks. Jennifer A. Miller's unique approach starts in the country of departure rather than the country of arrival and is heavily informed by Turkish-language sources and perspectives. Miller argues that the guest worker program, far from creating a parallel society, involved constant interaction between foreign nationals and Germans. These categories were as fluid as the Cold War borders they crossed. Miller's extensive use of archival research in Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands examines the recruitment?of workers, their travel, initial housing and work engagements, social lives, and involvement in labour and religious movements. She reveals how contrary to popular misconceptions, the West German government attempted to maintain a humane, foreign labour system and the workers themselves made crucial, often defiant, decisions. Turkish Guest Workers in Germany identifies the Turkish guest worker program as a postwar phenomenon that has much to tell us about the development of Muslim minorities in Europe and Turkey's ever-evolving relationship with the European Union.

Provides a rich examination of how Turkish immigrants and their children created spaces of belonging in West German society.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Sociology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1, Hamburg University of Ecomomy and Policy, course: Labour Migration in Europe, language: English, abstract: Immigration patterns have changed significantly since the first guestworkers came to Germany in the mid-1950 ́s. In the times of the “Wirtschaftswunder” the Germans imported foreigners on a temporary basis. However most of the foreigners remained in Germany and became real immigrants. Today Germany has to cope with huge problems concerning the integration of the residing foreign population, while on the socio-economic indicators clearly show the necessity for further immigration. This is mainly due to the demographic downturn and the need for high-qualified specialists to enhance Germanys economy, which is facing serious problems in a globalising world. This paper will analyse, why the German society was to a high degree not able to integrate the working-migrants and why it refuses further immigration, which is obviously contrary to the facts the Country will have to face in the 21st century. Hereby the role of the media and the politics will be encountered as a decisive one. Media not only plays an important role in transporting public opinion and news but also generates it. Deriving from that, media has a special responsibility in society. Political parties as the other imoprtant social force also tend to use the “Ausländer”-issue especially in the election campaigns. Some parties tend to make the immigrants their scapegoats, often with the intention of frightening people and by that grabbing votes. This paper will give an overwiev on the discussions and facts about immigration from the post-war period until the german reunification. Hereby the ‘Wirtschaftswunder’ period in the 1950 ́s and 1960 ́s. and the period starting with the oil-crisis in 1973 until the unification in 1990 will be seperately analysed. In the third part, possible reasons for the German situation will be presented, also including the role of politics and the media. The latest discussions about the fear of islamism, “unsucessful” integration of foreigners and the fear of parallel societies in Germany will be examined as well as the call for a German Leading-Culture. [...]

This book provides the first English-language history of the postwar labor migration to West Germany. Drawing on government bulletins, statements by political leaders, parliamentary arguments, industry newsletters, social welfare studies, press coverage, and the cultural production of immigrant artists and intellectuals, Rita Chin offers an account of West German public debate about guest workers. She traces the historical and ideological shifts around the meanings of the labor migration, moving from the concept of guest workers as a "temporary labor supplement" in the 1950s and 1960s to early ideas about "multiculturalism" by the end of the 1980s. She argues that the efforts to come to terms with the permanent residence of guest workers, especially Muslim Turks, forced a major rethinking of German identity, culture, and nation. What began as a policy initiative to fuel the economic miracle ultimately became a much broader discussion about the parameters of a specifically German brand of multiculturalism.

Publisher description

The political representation of immigrant association is central for immigrants to become political actors in Germany. This book offers a comparative analysis of five Turkish immigrant associations to point out to the diverse approaches in terms of immigrant integration and citizenship rights. By exploring these associations’ views on integration/ assimilation, nationalism/ethnicity, secularism/Islam and their relations with the mainstream German political parties, this book attempts to show that immigrants are not victims of the political decisions of the German state. On the contrary, Turkish immigrant elites become important actors to negotiate rights and memberships in the name of this ethno-national group. This book suggests an approach that recognizes the agency of immigrants in the socio-political discourse and also in the governing process.