Logics of Social Right: How Aging Taiwanese Immigrants Consider Public Benefits in Destination Society

• In Event: 106 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session I
  In Refereed Roundtable: A. Table 09. Immigration and Health

Abstract

This article uses elderly Taiwanese immigrants who relocated to the United States since young adulthood as a case to examine how aging migrant populations construct their deservingness of governmental support available in their host societies. I argue that older immigrants construct their understanding of rights, privilege and entitlements to public benefits by making claims about the degree to which they have been socially and culturally incorporated into their host society. I offer the concept of “logics of social right” to highlight how long-term aging immigrants reaffirm their social membership by defending their entitlement to access state support in the receiving societies. In addition, I develop the concept of “stratifying migrants” to demonstrate how aging immigrants establish moral hierarchies to distinguish themselves from other migrants when legitimating their deservingness of government support in the United States. In so doing, this article explains how many aging immigrants represent themselves as respectable newcomers in response to questions raised about their social citizenship.

Author

• Ken Chih-Yan Sun, Hong Kong Baptist University