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The classification of "migrants" as a discursive practice in public health: A sociology of knowledge approach

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  • Scott, Penelope
  • Odukoya, Dennis
  • von Unger, Hella

Abstract

This paper reflects on the classification and social categorization of ethnically diverse populations as a discursive practice in the production of knowledge by state institutions in the field of public health. It begins by providing an overview of the terms migrant and ethnicity in public health reporting and by comparing examples of ethnicity and migration-related categories used in tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS health reporting classification systems in the United Kingdom and Germany. It reviews sociology of knowledge studies focusing on classification and the social construction of medical knowledge to highlight why a sociological perspective on the categories used in public health classifications is a productive line of enquiry. In this regard, an aim of the paper is to discuss the theoretical underpinnings of the DFG-funded project Changing Categories: Migrants in epidemiological, preventive and legal discourses on HIV and tuberculosis - A discourse analysis comparing Germany and the UK. The paper creates a context for understanding the socio-historical processes implicit in the construction of public health classification systems and their constituent categories by dis-cussing, from a Foucauldian perspective, how the classification and social categorization of migrants are implicated in the governmentality of immigration. More specifically, it will consider the biopolitical function of public health and the exclusionary/inclusionary paradox in public health discourses on migrants and communicable diseases. The paper then discusses classification, identification and categorization as social processes to draw attention to the complexity of classification work and the constructedness of categories as knowledge practices. The final section of the paper draws on the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse Analysis (Keller 2013) to show how this research programme offers useful methodological tools to reconstruct processes and practices associated with meaning and knowledge production in an institutional field such as public health. By referring to the UK and German health reporting examples, it further reflects on how classification produces knowledge claims that are grounded in prevailing socio-historical conditions but which are potentially unstable and open to contestation by other actors.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott, Penelope & Odukoya, Dennis & von Unger, Hella, 2014. "The classification of "migrants" as a discursive practice in public health: A sociology of knowledge approach," Discussion Papers, Research Group Science Policy Studies SP III 2014-601, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbsps:spiii2014601
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ford, Chandra L. & Harawa, Nina T., 2010. "A new conceptualization of ethnicity for social epidemiologic and health equity research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 251-258, July.
    2. Rechel, Bernd & Mladovsky, Philipa & Devillé, Walter, 2012. "Monitoring migrant health in Europe: A narrative review of data collection practices," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 10-16.
    3. Ho, M.-J.Ming-Jung, 2004. "Sociocultural aspects of tuberculosis: a literature review and a case study of immigrant tuberculosis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(4), pages 753-762, August.
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