The Social Effects and Institutional Structure of Immigration in New Zealand in the 1980s

Abstract

From the perspective of social demography, selected changes in social roles, formal organizations and social stratification arising from immigration in New Zealand during the 1980s are identified and explained. It is argued, however, that both immigration and its social effects were deeply influenced by the nature and operation of the society's institutional structure of immigration. This structure consists in its ideal form of three main interrelated and complementary components — an immigration policy, an immigrant policy and an ethnic relations policy — that enhance the selectivity of immigration, shape public perceptions, set up safeguards for social interaction and provide for required adjustments between the host and immigrant populations. An examination of New Zealand's institutional structure in the 1980s reveals defects in all three policy areas, defects which were directly related to migrant adjustment difficulties and to less desirable social effects of immigration observed or experienced by New Zealanders.