ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the social success of immigrants belonging to the Sikh religion (Sikh panth), with the aid of the main studies carried out on the various Sikh diaspora in the West and in Italy, where the Sikh presence has grown considerably since 1980, especially in the north of the country. The thesis is that social success in an ‘out-of-context’ situation can be linked to the inner-world mysticism of the Sikh panth. The combination of the mystical dimension and engagement in the world, therefore, favoured the adoption of an ideal type which Max Weber called inner-world mysticism.The community spirit has enabled the Sikhs to build a solid transnational network in the diaspora, and maintain a degree of solidarity among immigrants which has lightened the ‘burden of solitude’ that sometimes typifies other immigrants.
