conflict & communication online, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2008
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Wassilios Baros
Construction and Testing of Hypotheses in Migration Research

Using the example of the current and topical debate on language and the integration of minorities, the author examines the interaction between subject understanding, knowledge ideals and the epistemological interest in migration research. He thereby maintains that the respective tasks of knowledge development tend to fade into the background of mainstream-oriented research pragmatics, which focuses chiefly on controlling the conditions and effects of human behavior.
In contrast to a discourse of conditions – in which the technical utilizability of knowledge plays a decisive role in the justification of the methodological approach employed – the author emphasizes the need for an epistemological interest in the acquisition of emancipatory reflective knowledge. He elaborates the relevance of the capabilities approach for a new orientation in migration research, intercultural studies and education.