Preference of Norms Over Laws (by response)
H1. There is a positive relationship between high discrimination (mentality) against
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
5. Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusions
This research explored the possible reasons behind the continued plight of migrant labor exploitation in Taiwan by examining four key areas: social norms that perpetuate labor abuse, weakness of rule of law that provides a tolerable environment for exploitation, “us vs. them” mentality felt by different factions of Taiwanese society, and the marginalization by both government and society of the migrant workers. One of the main goals of this study was to better understand how Taiwanese people feel towards migrant workers in order to show that the NGOs need to focus their efforts on changing public perceptions and also to engage the public to care more about the equality of labor. The argument was built upon firstly that the government has provided a solid foundation for labor protection in the form of policies and legislation in part to the NGO’s persistent advocacy, but that this is not enough because the people of Taiwan are not invested in the enforcement of these laws. The NGOs have been successful in provision of aid and public policy engagement, but it is now time to look to society in order to forge a better bargaining power that can stop the abuse. Below details the findings of this research in regards to the arguments presented.
Social Norms and Rule of Law
Accepted social norms develop and change within the confines of the
implementation and internalization of rule of law within in a society, and although the relationship between these two variables was not found in this study to be too
significant, both are still important factors in mitigating migrant worker exploitation.
Since social norms that are often illegal such as confiscation of passports are generally accepted and promulgated, it shows there is a lack of policy and law enforcement surrounding this specific issue. As the authors cited in the literature review argued, the current concepts and application of rule of law in Taiwan are transplanted from Japanese, Chinese, and American influences, thus yielding a lower level of internalization within society. As the internalization of rule of law is low, than social norms naturally take its place in maintaining social order. And in this case, social norms are more unfavorable to the equal treatment of migrant workers.
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“Us vs Them” Mentality and Social Norms
Perceptions and attitudes are the starting points of social interaction as
thoughts are major motivators for certain actions. As discussed in the literature review, schisms are encouraged between Taiwanese society and migrant workers by both cultural and governmental influences and this separation influences their interactions.
People that are unwelcoming of migrant workers or those that feel a level of
discrimination then translate these feelings into the social norms that are carried out and accepted in Taiwan. This phenomenon implies that there are insufficient
constrictions within both society and government to dissuade this type of behavior.
In the research conducted for this study, the largest correlation was found between mentality and social norms, which shows the level of influence mentality has on action. Therefore, if mentality can be changed to work against the social norms in place, migrant workers may have a better chance at receiving fair treatment. In order to change norms, the norms must first become unacceptable, and one possible way to accomplish this is to expose the wide use of these norms and shame those doing them into stopping.
Social norms, mentality, rule of law on marginalization
Mentalities, norms, lack of policy implementation and strong rule of law can all contribute to marginalizing a group of people. In this study it was found that social norms and mentalities did in fact have significant relationships with marginalization of migrant workers, which is evidence that the existence of labor equality is
impossible without the support of society. Filed migrant worker abuse cases are on the rise because of the major disconnect between society and the workers; culture,
language, and government separations all contribute to creating gaps between Taiwanese society and migrant workers. Although the government is justified in keeping some separation in order to protect its people, it is important to note that too much ostracization of migrant workers only leads to more apathy and abuse.
Limitations
This research of Taiwanese society and migrant workers is only but a piece of the puzzle surrounding the issue of migrant worker labor in Taiwan. Delving into the
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mentalities of Taiwanese people regarding migrant labor is an incredibly complicated process as many different factors not only influence mentality, but also interactions between society and the migrant workers. Limitations of this study include
demographic constrictions, variable limitations, and one level analysis restrictions.
Firstly, the relatively small sample size can only serve to provide a glimpse into the population as a whole, as there are not enough respondents present for each demographic background to provide a complete picture. This study used purposeful sampling, focusing mostly on engaging key age groups and different types of occupations in order to gauge differences in perceptions towards the issue studied.
Purposeful sampling of strangers from different establishments and cities was also used to combat the “group think” phenomenon, in which one group of people tend to answer in the same fashion. Within the sample tested, there was also a large portion that had neutral biases which also limited the amount of analysis that could be conducted on the responses. Although there were several limitations to the sample surveyed, the data still provided significant enough conclusions that should warrant future study on the subject.
Secondly, this research only focused on one influential actor: Taiwanese society and thus was limited to variables focused around this actor. The migrant labor exploitation phenomenon in Taiwan is a complex, multi-layered system with broker agencies, governmental polices and officials, quota systems, and migrant workers themselves all playing important roles. Therefore, this study only provides a focus on one angle of that problem as a whole: how Taiwanese society is a part of the system and their influence on the problem. This research, simply for cohesiveness, could not measure the impact of government, broker agencies, and others on the issue because of the sheer complexity of migrant labor in Taiwan. This study did however provide one piece to the puzzle: showing how Taiwanese people feel generally about migrant workers and how that influences their interactions with the workers. Thus future research could build upon these findings by focusing on different influential factors such as law enforcement or broker involvement.
Thirdly, it is crucial to note from Figure 4.8 Overall Hypotheses Data, that a certain amount of leftist bias occurred in gathering data. In other words, most of the sample disagreed with the statements on the survey, which implies that this data is in
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some way biased. Although it was proved that perceptions, social norms, and rule of law do significantly influence the marginalization of migrant workers, the leftist trend was still evident in the resulted responses. This could be attributed to the type of sample that was collected, as half of the sample was of younger age and found to be less judging of migrant workers than the older respondents.
Lastly, the survey conducted only measured how people feel about migrant workers, marginalization, rule of law and social norms; the study did not go further into finding out why the respondents answered a certain way. This one level analysis only shows what is on the surface, and did not measure the reasons behind the perceptions. There are plenty of hypotheses that could estimate the motivations behind the mentalities, but these hypotheses were not measured in this study. It was important to establish the first layer of the foundation in studying Taiwanese people which was finding out IF there were negative mentalities around migrant workers and HOW that influenced Taiwanese society’s interactions. Future studies could take it a step further and delve into WHY a portion of society feels this way, and this could provide insight into how to change those perceptions.
Recommendations
With a plethora of actors all involved in migrant labor importation within Taiwan, this research mainly covered government, NGO, and societal involvement and thus below are detail recommendations for those involved and researchers for future studies.
The domestic government is ultimately responsible for enacting official
change in the treatment of the migrant workers: and an effective way to stop the abuse would be to support the migrant workers and take them out of a position of
marginalization. Permitting job mobility, cracking down on illegal brokerage fees, permitting independent housing of employers, and providing legal protection against labor exploitation are just some of the key actions that need to be taken in order to decrease migrant worker’s vulnerability to abuse. Taiwan prides itself on being a shining beacon of democracy within an otherwise authoritative Asian region, yet equal rights are only provided for the selected few in this case. Below minimum wage salaries, unregulated working conditions and hours, and privacy invasions need to be
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addressed before the international community and Taiwan itself can be considered as an advanced democracy. Therefore, for both reputation and morality can incentivize Taiwan’s government to show more political will in protecting and providing for its ever-growing migrant labor population.
More specifically, the Taiwanese government could focus on increasing trust in its policy implementation and judicial system while at the same time enforcing the legislation. From this study, it was found that most young people in the sample did not have a high level of trust in the judicial system or law enforcement in Taiwan, so one possible avenue would be to start rigorously enforcing the laws. For example, judicial courts in Hualien January 2016 indicted a public official for sexual assaulting his neighbor’s caretaker, and sentenced him to seven years in jail (Focus 2016). If the government could ensure more cases were receiving proper attention and more cases actually making it to court, this could set a good precedent that may increase trust in the law enforcement.
As results have shown from this study, society is an important piece of the puzzle in regards to improving the overall conditions of migrant workers in Taiwan, so the NGOs should focus their efforts in engaging the society and motivating them to care. Marginalization of migrant workers and social norms had the second largest correlation in the data analyzed, and so NGOs need to appeal to the people that are perpetuating these norms in order to stop the abuse of migrant workers. In this sample, it seems that the age groups older than 35 years of age are in favor of these norms.
That being said, those involved in advocating for basic human rights should not stop their appeals to the government, but instead look to build upon those appeals with galvanizing societal support. Due to international and domestic pressure of these NGOs, more and more governmental policies have been passed to protect the migrant workers, but without the support of the population, implementation will be
fragmented and insignificant. There are several avenues in which NGOs can take to better motivate the public: education proliferation, market campaigns, and cross cultural activities.
NGOs and other organizations need to branch out and reach all levels of society in Taiwan, and one of the best ways to accomplish this is education and more active social campaigns. Visiting more high schools, universities, cram schools or any
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other institution to lecture about labor rights and migrant workers’ situations can help change attitudes at impressionable ages. More social campaigns such as posters, sponsored ads, and cross cultural activities will not only garner much needed domestic media coverage, but these activities can help bridge the knowledge and communication gap between two populations that are regularly separated. NGOS must find ways to make Taiwanese public invested in their cause and make the mission of improving migrant workers’ rights their passion as well.
As mentioned previously, this study has only analyzed one specific aspect of the migrant labor phenomenon in Taiwan, and so future researchers have many avenues to build upon to find a more comprehensive picture of issues involved. More research needs to be conducted on governmental involvement and law enforcement for labor exploitation cases, as many NGOs arbitrating these cases complain of partial legality practiced. Additionally, it would be noteworthy to also examine the influence of external powers such as sending country’s governments or advanced democracies that attach human rights to their national priorities on Taiwan’s treatment of human rights and labor exploitation.
Future researchers should also endeavor to conduct more qualitative data collection and analysis, especially from employers of migrant workers, governmental officials, and lawyers for this perspective will help represent a more complete picture of attitudes involved. If discriminatory attitudes are felt and perpetuated at higher levels then a different type of engagement is needed by NGOs and those involved.
At the very least, this study has provided evidence that there are feelings of separation and distrust between these two populations as well as the strong
connections between these feelings and actions, which has important implications for all involved in migrant labor of Taiwan. There is very little research on perceptions and relationships between Taiwanese society and migrant workers, so it is the hope that this study will be a starting point that will help governments, NGOs, and all involved better tackle the mistreatment and conflict between these two groups of people. These results are useful because they provide one glimpse into how mentalities, interactions, and application of social norms effect migrant labor
exploitation and marginalization, and understanding all facets of a problem is the first step to finding a solution.
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Migrant labor is an important foundational piece to Taiwan’s economic structure, and as migrant laborers are only on the rise, creating and maintaining a stable system is crucial to its survival. Taiwan is a complex, rapidly advancing democracy that cannot afford to fall behind on the enforcement of basic human and labor rights, which is why stopping the widespread abuse of these temporary guest workers needs to be both a governmental and more importantly societal mission.
Therefore it is falls upon the government and NGOs to better understand and engage Taiwanese society in order to bridge the tangible and intangible gaps to create a more harmonious and justifiably equal working environment that fits the laws already in place.
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