Australia's Post-war Immigration: Institutional and Social Science Research

This paper, which is work-in-progress, provides an initial review of the theoretical traditions adopted by immigration researchers in Australia over the past fifty years or so. Many researchers have played a vital role in the development of both entrance and settlement policies while others have carried out social science research that has remained quite distinct from policy needs. The social sciences have not only contributed ideas and systematic knowledge to the development of policy, they have also provided systematic data and critical analysis which has countered misleading populist beliefs about such issues as economic growth, unemployment and institutional racism. In Australia, social scientists have been influenced by the theoretical paradigms that are dominant in their disciplines at the time of their research. In some cases, a theoretical tradition such as that of assimilation (following the Chicago School) coincided with the common sense ideologies held by the society at large. At other times, as with the introduction of multiculturalism, social scientists provided the theoretical foundations for what was considered a necessary basis for a culturally plural society