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New Settlement and Wellbeing in Oppressive Contexts: A Liberation Psychology Approach

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The Psychology of Global Mobility

Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology ((ICUP))

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of community, relational and personal factors in the wellbeing of new settler populations, based on our research and experience with Moroccan new settlers in southern Spain for more than a decade. Taking a liberation psychology approach, wellbeing is conceptualized as a multilevel and value-dependent phenomenon, strongly related with power dynamics and values of social justice in the host society. At the community level, new settlers’ wellbeing requires equal access to key resources such as housing, employment, income, community services and formal social support, as well as intergroup relations based on values of respect for human diversity. At the relational level, wellbeing is based on positive and supportive relationships with both compatriots and the host population, and equal opportunities for social participation. At the personal level, wellbeing relies on personal control, self-determination and positive identity. The liberation psychology perspective is proposed as a necessary and innovative framework for research and practice with new settler populations under oppressive conditions.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), the foreign-born population of a country refers to all persons who have their usual residence in that country, and whose place of birth is located in another country (see http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=1022).

  2. 2.

    According to the official census of legal residents, nationals from the United Kingdom are the first foreign-born group of residents in Andalusia. However, when the number of illegal residents is taken into account, Moroccans are the most numerous group, although the real size of this population cannot be gauged precisely (OPAM, 2009).

  3. 3.

    A preliminary version of this study was presented at the First Conference of Community Psychology (University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, June, 2006) included in thesymposium “Integration, assimilation and acculturation: What do they really mean?” with the title “Community integration of new settlers in asymmetric contexts: the case of Moroccans in Spain”.

  4. 4.

    Equation similar to a typical OLS (ordinary least square) multiple regression, except for the j subscripts, that express a different model for each of the j second-level units (local contexts). Each local context has a different intercept and slope. Intercepts inform about the average life satisfaction in each local context for those people without any host language competence. Slopes show the effect of language on satisfaction.

  5. 5.

    Given that we were mainly interested in identifying which variables of the local context explained the effect of speaking host language on life satisfaction, we dealt with the slopes, keeping the intercept fixed, with the random component due to contexts (u oj ); and create a new regression model where β 1j is the outcome variable, and the independent variables are the local context variables under study. Both equations β 0j and β 1j constitute the second-level variables. Then, we incorporated this second-level part into the first-level equation and solve the equation system.

Abbreviations

CESPYD:

Coalition for the Study of Health, Power and Diversity

OECD:

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

HLM:

Hierarchical Linear Modeling

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Acknowledgments

This research project was funded in part by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spanish Government (SEJ2006-14470), and from the Department of Migration Policy of Andalusian Regional Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Almería, Almería, Spain

    Sonia Hernández-Plaza

  2. Department of Social Psychology, University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

    Manuel García-Ramírez & Virginia Paloma

  3. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

    Carlos Camacho

Authors
  1. Sonia Hernández-Plaza
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  2. Manuel García-Ramírez
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  3. Carlos Camacho
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  4. Virginia Paloma
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Correspondence to Sonia Hernández-Plaza .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Humanities & Social Science, School of Psychology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stuart C. Carr

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Hernández-Plaza, S., García-Ramírez, M., Camacho, C., Paloma, V. (2010). New Settlement and Wellbeing in Oppressive Contexts: A Liberation Psychology Approach. In: Carr, S. (eds) The Psychology of Global Mobility. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6208-9_12

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