ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of what a more ambivalent approach towards immigration can look like, that is an approach that does not initially seek to neutralize or order what is ambivalent in the debate. It focuses on some introductory issues which, as position-takings, can establish some pathways of an ambivalent social theory. The chapter considers how a more ambivalent social theory can move to and “settle” on some issues in the field of immigration. It argues that a theoretical approach in the context of immigration must be as mobile as the research object.” The chapter describes some initial points related to the empirical material and the philosophical background of social theory. Classic social theory was grounded on the assumption that“systemness”, understood as regularities in the “social”. The most important background assumption of classical social theory mentioned so far is subject-object thinking, and this requires a philosophical awareness on the side of an ambivalent social theory.
