Australia has relatively more immigrant families, of greater ethnic diversity, than most western societies. In order to understand the diversity of experiences of immigrant families in Australia it is necessary to reject simplistic “culturalist” explanations in favour of a political economy approach. The immigrant family in Australia is viewed as a social construct emerging in different ways at different times in response to changing structural, political, economic, cultural and ideological conditions at a national and international level. The dynamic intersection of ethnicity, class, gender, state practices and the racialisation of immigrant labour in Australia are the keys to understanding immigrant families in Australia.
