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37 J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 149 (2010)
Institutional Structures of Opportunity in Refugee Resettlement: Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Refugee NGOs

handle is hein.journals/jrlsasw37 and id is 145 raw text is: Institutional Structures of Opportunity in Refugee Resettlement: Gender, Race/ethnicity, and Refugee NGOs STEPHANIE J. NAWYN Michigan State University Department of Sociology Previous research suggests that social welfare assistance can fur- ther subordinate already disadvantaged recipients. Refugee re- settlement, essentially a social welfare program, offers a diferent perspective on how welfare assistance might exert social control. Using data gathered from 60 in-depth interviews with people working in resettlement and observations at refugee non-gov- ernmental organizations (NGOs), this paper argues that refugee NGOs provide a complex institutional opportunity structure that has the potential to reproduce the gender and racial/ethnic subordination embedded in refugee welfare policy while also pro- viding opportunities for refugees to counteract subordinating gender and racial/ethnic relations through advocacy and cul- tural activities. These findings refine the conclusions of previous literature on the role NGOs play in incorporating refugees into American life, and point to the importance of NGOs for structur- ing opportunities for immigrants to challenge social inequality. Key words: refugee resettlement, welfare, non-governmental or- ganizations, gender, race/ethnicity Introduction When refugees enter the United States, one of their first interactions with American institutions is with non-gov- ernmental organizations (NGOs) administering the refugee resettlement program. Previous research on resettlement Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, March 2010, Volume XXXVII, Number 1 149

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