ABSTRACT
Were you or your parents born in another country? Do you have personal connections to children of immigrants? How ethnically diverse is the society in which you live? The topic of immigration and integration is relevant more than ever before. International migration has resulted in increasingly ethnically diverse societies and questions arise about the integration of immigrants and their offspring. In this chapter, I will first discuss how issues of immigration and integration are addressed as social problems (11.1). Then I will review broad patterns of international migration, explaining key terminology (11.2). After that, I will discuss the topic of integration and distinguish three dimensions of this complex concept: cultural integration, social integration and economic integration (11.3). Subsequently, I will review the immigrant integration proposition, which posits that integration is a process that unfolds over time (11.4). I will then show that the integration process depends on social contextual conditions and that, in particular, there are notable differences between ethnic groups in their integration process (11.5). To illustrate the role of contextual conditions in shaping the integration process, I take a closer look at a case study on the so-called “culture of honor” (11.6). Subsequently, I examine the three dimensions of integration (cultural, social, economic) in relation to each other and highlight that these dimensions may work interdependently (11.7). Finally, I will discuss the segregation of ethnic minority and majority groups into different neighborhoods and cities (11.8).
