Superdiversity and pathways to health care (completed)

Charlie Davison (Essex), Gill Green (Essex), Hannah Bradby (Warwick), Susann Huschke (Berlin), Gabi Alex (Tübingen), Kristine Krause, Felipe Morente Mejías (Jaén), Inmaculada Barroso Benítez (Jaén)

The health-care systems of European countries share the challenge of caring for an increasingly diverse population. Processes of socio-cultural diversification thus include not only the influx of newcomers who carry with them different languages and variegated understandings of health care and healing, but also the heterogenization of values and norms within the settled population. The advantage of a diversity perspective lies in viewing both developments together. The recently developed concept of ‘superdiversity’ presents a new opportunity for understanding the politics of belonging in contemporary Europe. It presents an innovative perspective on social stratification and a new lens to look at migration-related ethnic diversity. Transcending previous theories of multiculturalism, it recognizes a level of socio-cultural-economic-legal complexity distinguished by a dynamic interplay of overlapping variables, including country of origin (ethnicity, language, religious tradition, regional and local identities etc.), migration experience (often strongly related to gender, age, education, social networks and economic niches) and legal status (implying a wide variety of entitlements and restrictions). The aim of the project is to develop ways to account better for this complexity in research on pathways to health care. The research results will inform an international, comparative research proposal.