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- Title
How do Locals in Finland Identify Resident Foreigners?
- Authors
SääVäLä, Minna
- Abstract
This study examines the identification by Finns of foreign residents in Finland by analyzing data from a representative sample survey carried out in 2002. When people were asked to name a group of foreigners residing in Finland, the majority first mentioned Somalis, despite the fact that only 4 percent of foreign residents are Somali and 6 percent of foreign-language speakers speak Somali. The general tendency when identifying resident foreigners is to refer primarily to ethnic or national groups; references to status (e.g. refugee, return migrant, guest worker) or religion (e.g. Muslim) are rare in the survey. In terms of ethnicity, identifying foreign residents in Finland is inconsistent, particularly as Russians and Estonians, the two largest groups, are not readily seen as foreign residents. The prevalence of answering 'Somalis' could be considered an outcome of the maximally visible difference between Finns and Somalis. A logistic regression analysis is used to examine whether identifying resident foreigners differs according to socio-economic and educational characteristics, age, gender, region, and attitude towards the number of resident foreigners in Finland. The variables that significantly influence the probability of answering 'Somalis' and 'Russians' are the respondent's region, age, attitude towards the number of foreign residents in Finland, and to some extent, gender and higher education. Respondents' occupational status, vocational education or income does not have a significant impact on the answers. Regional differences appear to be a major factor affecting how foreigners are identified, which shows that although the need to consider resident foreigners as visibly, culturally and linguistically maximally different may be a nearly universal base line for creating difference and identity, identifying foreign residents in Finland is not entirely independent of demographic realities.
- Subjects
FINLAND; NONCITIZENS; IDENTIFICATION (Psychology); CULTURAL identity; SOMALIS; RUSSIANS; ESTONIANS; REGIONAL differences
- Publication
Finnish Yearbook of Population Research, 2007, Issue 43, p115
- ISSN
1796-6183
- Publication type
Article