Why Analyze Immigrants? Ethical and Empirical Aspects

The Norwegian pattern of international migration changed profoundly in thelast part of the previous century. Norway is now an immigration country, with asignificant immigration surplus from all parts of the world. This is a comparativelynew phenomenon in Norwegian society. In accordance with Norwegian traditions,it called for research. During the last 10-15 years, the amount of statistics andanalyses on immigration and immigrants has been growing, inside and outsideStatistics Norway. Ethical aspects should be important, as this a very sensitive field.Questions have been raised as to the use of immigrant as a permanent classificationin analyses, comprising even persons who never immigrated themselves. Thebasic idea of this article is that as long as the concept of immigrant is useful inrevealing discriminatory practices, we have to carry out the analysis. Withoutknowledge of discrimination we cannot work effectively against it.