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The recent influx of migrants and refugees into Europe and elsewhere raises questions as to whether migrant behavior reflects cultural predispositions and whether assimilation through exposure to host institutions can be expected. The paper focuses on financial behavior and uses high-quality administrative data on migrants and refugees to Sweden. It uncovers differences across cultural groups in how behavior relates to household characteristics, and shows that differences diminish with exposure to host country institutions, even for large cultural distances. Interestingly, robust cultural classification of European countries based on genetic distance or on Hofstede's cultural dimensions fails to identify a single 'southern' culture but points to a 'northern' culture. Our results also have implications for the potential of European institutional harmonization, exogenously imposed during the fiscal crisis, to alleviate cultural differences in financial behavior. This paper was accepted by Lauren Cohen, finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the labor and marriage market incorporation of individuals originating from Turkey in comparison to other migrant groups in Sweden. Using high-quality register data from Statistics Sweden, the progress of and challenges facing this group are analyzed in comparison to their European and Middle Eastern counterparts, both over time and over generations. The descriptive results point to the economic progress of individuals from Turkey over time and over generations, especially in the case of native-born females. The results show that native-born individuals with an origin from Turkey are more likely to be employed as compared to their counterparts from the New 10 EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania, and the Middle East. However, those originating from Turkey are less likely to intermarry as compared to other groups. Further analyses indicate that individual characteristics are more important for native-born individuals, as compared to immigrants, in explaining the observed gaps in the labor market as well as the marriage market. However, the role of individual characteristics in explaining differences across groups varies by gender as well as by generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor market competition theory has traditionally analyzed the threat perceived by lower and middle class' natives on competition over jobs with immigrants. However, in this article we focus on the fiscal burden and competition for social benefits generated by unemployed immigrants and its impact on the vote for Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRPs). Combining individual-level data and aggregate unemployment indicators for over 60 regions from 10 EU countries, we show that, on the one hand, upper class natives seem to support PRRPs when migrant unemployment rates are higher, irrespective of migrants' origin, which is consistent with the fiscal burden model. On the other hand, lower and middle class natives are more likely to support PRRPs only in contexts of higher unemployment rates among non-EU migrants (but not among migrants from other EU member states), pointing towards an interaction between cultural and economic explanations. These findings underscore the need to account for migrant populations' characteristics and to consider not only labor competition, but also the fiscal burden to better understand how unemployment may impact PRRP voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western European national policies increasingly portray diversity as negative and migrants as ‘others’ who do not belong to the national community. This article examines how local governments articulate alternative discourses of belonging based on residents' shared membership in the civic life of the city. In a Dutch case study, the ways in which local policymakers diverge from exclusionary national narratives are examined. It is argued that discourses about urban citizenship offer opportunities for the inclusion of migrants by drawing new boundaries between ‘good’ citizens and those who are unwilling to participate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Migration has always played a requisite role in the history of mankind. At present the intensity and frequency of cross-border mobility are much higher than in previous decades. In addition, many citizens are children of foreigners and belong to the so called second generation of immigrants, these people belonging to two different cultures. The second generation of immigrants is raised and educated in accordance with the value system of their parents' country of origin. Outside the home, they familiarize themselves with the national society's value system, while the kind of neighbourhood in which they live may be more or less encouraging. Cultural assimilation occurs when immigrants voluntarily adopt their new country's language and cultural practices to integrate into society and improve their chances of economic and social gain. Sociologists suggest that differences in cultural integration efforts matter less to the formation of acculturation preferences of the second generation. Somewhat surprisingly, the position of this growing segment of European societies is still underexplored, reasons for policy-makers concern. In this paper we are trying to reflect both the attitude of immigrants and that of European host countries towards integration and assimilation of new habits and cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how children of immigrants from Turkey are integrated into Swedish society. The educational achievements and labour market outcomes of this group are compared with the performance of the offspring of native-born parents. The aim of the study is to explore whether we can observe a tendency towards ‘downward mobility’ among young people of immigrant background in Sweden and thereby provide reflections on the existing formulation of the ‘segmented assimilation’ theory. Findings show that descendants of immigrants seemnotto be in the process of downward assimilation, that is, social exclusion and therefore formation of a distinct ‘underclass’ in Sweden. The concept of ‘subordinate inclusion’ is a more appropriate description of the experiences of children of immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Why do some immigrants naturalize and others not? While much of the literature emphasizes the importance of country of origin features and individual characteristics, there is surprisingly little systematic research on the relation between citizenship policies in destination countries and citizenship take-up among immigrants. Most research in this field draws on data from single country cases and has limited comparative scope. In this paper we analyze citizenship take-up among first generation immigrants in 16 European countries. We apply an explicit cross-national perspective and argue that immigrant naturalization in Europe is determined not only by country of origin features and individual characteristics, but also by the opportunity structure set by the citizenship laws in the countries of origin and destination. We show that more accessible citizenship policies matter little for immigrants from highly developed countries, particularly those with fewer years of residence, but matter significantly for immigrants from less developed countries. As the composition of immigrant populations and citizenship policies across Europe vary significantly, this comparative design is ideally suited to testing the relative importance of factors related to country of origin, individual background and legal opportunity structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islam has become a dominant issue in the German debate about the integration of "foreigners". This debate has generated several buzzwords such as "Islamophobia" on the one hand and the fear of "fundamentalism" and the need for "security" on the other. Initial empirical studies of that deconstruct those concepts. The paper gives an overview of these attempts, including several undertaken by the author. It shows that the organizational development of Islam in Germany and the intergenerational change of its clientele have little correspondence with the conditions for inclusion established by the discourse of the German majority. At the same time, the discourse itself proves to be complex and more determined by conflicting interests between various groups within the Muslim and German communities than simply a Muslim-German divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper advances our empirical and theoretical understanding of migrant assimilation. It does so by focusing on a very particular group of individuals who appear more likely than other migrant types to “go native.” We call these individuals “mixed nationality relationship migrants” ( i.e., migrants who have committed to a life outside their home country because of the presence of a foreign partner). The paper argues that the transnational family milieus that emerge from this form of international migration are critical to the assimilation process. Empirical material from 11 in-depth interviews with female migrants in Britain (Sheffield) and France (Paris) supports our argument. We also suggest that such “extreme” assimilation is more likely within a regional migratory system – like the EU – where the “identity frontiers” crossed in the formation of a transnational family are relatively shallow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the sharp increase in migration flows, the issue of immigrants' religious assimilation and its impact on integration and discrimination has become a hot topic. This article refers to the debate between assimilation and reaction theories in order to shed light on the effects of both the destination context and the passage of time on immigrants' religiosity. Using the nine waves of European Social Survey data, I show that non-Muslim migrants display tendencies towards assimilation, with second generations being more similar to the native population than to the first generations in terms of levels of religiosity. Conversely, Muslim migrants are seen to resist more to assimilation pressures, thus reinforcing a reading based more on ethnic reactions. In addition to this, the data clearly show that there is a specific sector of the migrant population - younger second-generation Muslims - who feel a greater sense of discrimination because of their religion compared to both people from different religions and to their first-generation parents. This makes them a very relevant group to study because of the effects of this discrimination on socioeconomic and educational integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article analyzes how Member States have used the opportunities and avoided the constraints of the EU's multilevel governance architecture to return unwanted migrants. Drawing on sociological approaches to the EU and a broad understanding of return policies, we investigate the ways in which the northern Member States, notably Germany and Austria, have increasingly relied upon the EU's operational and financial resources to achieve their goal of pursuing a bold return policy. A key 'usage' of Europe has been the pooling of political and financial power to externalize and informalize its return policy. At the same time, the northern Member States' deliberate - yet widely under-researched - 'non-use' of Europe, such as using and maximizing national leeway, has been an equally important strategy to reduce migratory pressure and achieve higher return rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many experts underscore a firm difference between (US) American and European approaches to combating terrorism. Other scholars contend that, since 11 September 2001, European governments have emulated the USA by “securitising” immigration and trampling on the civil and human rights of immigrants of Muslim heritage. Still other analysts discern within Europe distinct national styles of counterterrorism such as French assimilation and deportation versus British multiculturalism and conciliation. This article finds neither a coherent policy strategy nor an unmistakable political consensus in Europe regarding counterterrorism. Instead, a comparative analysis reveals a jumble of ethically inconsistent and practically contradictory measures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The introduction of integration tests on a pre-entry or post-arrival basis has drawn attention to changing national integration policies. Yet, at the local level, language and civic culture courses have often been implemented before the development of national programmes. The way these policies came into place and the extent to which they responded to similar challenges has often been overlooked. This article explores the development of these measures in four cities – Stuttgart, Vienna, Barcelona and Turin – to find out which mechanisms account for convergence in policymaking. Integration courses present traits of similarity in their contents and target groups; however, this does not imply a consistent process towards convergence. Local introduction initiatives are the product of local policy arenas, which display different policy frames of migrant integration. On the other hand, new legislation and changes in the available financial resources for integration appear to be crucial factors that trigger divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

International migration changed large West European cities dramatically. In only two generations’ time, their ethnic make-up is turned upside down. Cities like Amsterdam and Brussels now are majority–minority cities: the old majority group became a minority. This new reality asks for an up-to-date perspective on assimilation and integration. In this article, I will show why grand theories like segmented and new assimilation theory no longer suffice in tackling that new reality of large cities, and I will question critically whether using the perspective of super-diversity is more pertinent for our analyses. Children of immigrants nowadays no longer integrate into the majority group, but into a large amalgam of ethnic groups. Next to the diversification of ethnic groups, we see diversificationwithinethnic groups in the second and third generations. I will focus on intergenerational social mobility patterns given that they are key to existing grand theories of assimilation. I will argue that super-diversity theory can only partially show us the way. To further build an alternative theoretical perspective, we also need to borrow from the intersectional approach and the integration context theory. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

How migration and mobilizations of difference are accommodated at the local level is a burning question. Concepts adopted by local governments and the capacities of cities to formulate and implement these have received increasing attention, but often without examining the ideas and norms that underlie local concepts and practices. This article assesses the hypothesis of local-level pragmatism, which it rejects, and develops the notion of ‘paradigmatic pragmatism’ to characterize how local-level politics address mobilizations of difference. Based on empirical findings from Amsterdam, Antwerp and Leeds, and comparing the content and the implementation of ‘diversity policies’, I argue against a dichotomy of pragmatic vs ideational politics. Instead, these cities draw on a variety of ideas and pragmatically combine them under the header of diversity. This paradigmatic pragmatism invites further research on the effects of potential incompatibilities of immigrant policy ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Citizenship representations within national populations have mainly been deduced from state policies on migration. Yet, at the individual level, no studies have investigated whether citizenship representations are reliably associated with preferences for specific migration policies (i.e. the underlying assumption for deducing citizenship representations from state policies). Because several studies have shown that state policies may not reflect understandings of citizenship within national populations, it may be more relevant to study citizenship representations at the individual level, in relation to personal preferences regarding migration policies. This study examined how ethnic, cultural and civic citizenship representations relate to migration policy preferences at the individual level among majority group high-school students (N = 1,734) in seven EU countries. Findings add to the understanding of citizenship representations and may have implications for the implementation of migration policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understood as a philosophy counselling group rights and concomitant public policies undertaken by governments to preserve and enhance group identities, multiculturalism has little purchase in European immigrant integration debates. However, based on interviews with various actors engaged in policies that affect immigrants in the Netherlands and Germany, we argue that multiculturalism remains a going concern if it is understood as a problem-solving practice through which governments acknowledge and work with ethnic and religious groups to address issues of mutual concern, particularly on issues related to gender. We label this ‘multicultural governance’ and argue that it supports the principal ends of integration policy: the socialization of immigrants into prevailing national languages, norms and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Governments have policies explicitly directed at the integration of migrants. This article addresses how policymakers and politicians privilege certain constructions of the social relationship between migrants and the majority society (expressed through narratives of ‘integration’), while making it seem as if they were presenting facts in their policies. These constructions provide the justifications for adopting a direction in policy-making over other alternatives. This article sets to analyse comparatively how policy actors in two urban contexts construct migrants' integration through policy narratives and how, within this, they evaluate migrants as ‘integrated’ and ‘non-integrated’. Through narrative analysis, the article sheds light on how migrants are positioned by political institutions within the normative order of the society in which they live. Furthermore, it shows that local policy-making is shaped by national citizenship regimes, models of steering, welfare regimes and stories about the nation and its people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Religion is often perceived as one of the main barriers to immigrant integration in Europe. By focusing on the contested area of immigrants' gender role attitudes, this study analyses data of first- and second-generation immigrants from multiple origin countries and of different religious affiliations in comparison to the native population. It shows that higher levels of religiosity can explain immigrants' more traditional attitudes to some extent, but that origin country socialization acts as an important additional determinant of attitudes of the first generation. Among second-generation migrants, only Muslims continue to hold more traditional attitudes. Acculturation for longer-staying migrants is partly explained by declining religiosity, with some evidence for a decoupling of attitudes from religious beliefs among female migrants in particular. Intergenerational change, on the other hand, cannot be attributed to a decline in the role of religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws insights from the Austrian capital, a city with a long history of immigration, and from the Irish capital, a city of recent immigration, in order to explore urban approaches to immigrant integration, across Europe. It analyses the emergence of current immigrant integration policy types in the two cities, and scrutinises the vision of immigrant integration that informs the policy approaches in place. The findings show that in both cases immigrant integration is essentially used as a tool to foster and to maintain economic growth in the city. Ethno-cultural diversity is seen increasingly as a competitive asset, with which to improve the socio-economic performance of cities. The article emphasises that it is international experts, international cooperation among cities, as well as transnational communication networks,who have promoted this idea, and as a result have stimulated policy convergence across European cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the minefield of Muslim integration in Europe, paying special attention to the legal integration of Islam, which has not yet found the attention that it deserves. In a first step, the article contrasts ‘victimist’ and ‘alarmist’ views on contemporary Muslim integration, both of which are found misleading. Instead, as argued in the second part, significant progress has been made through the legal route. The conclusion provides a reflection on the role of Islam for Europe’s ‘liberal identity’ today. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article focuses on the situation of migrants and their descendants in European labour markets. This important socioeconomic dimension of the current crisis illuminates the role of pre-existing policies and institutions and points the way to political solutions. The article begins with a comparative puzzle: how can one account for cross-national, cross-local, and cross-sectoral variation in the labour market outcomes of migrant-origin minority groups and explain migrant-origin and gender differences. This is followed by a critical examination of debates on the ‘integration’ of migrants and the ‘second generation’ reflecting political diatribes on the across-the-board poor performance of minorities and the role of ethnic or religious factors. An alternative explanation underscores the importance of policy paradigms and institutional hurdles focusing on three aspects of European political economies: welfare state arrangements, education, and sub-national labour market policies. The arguments put forth rely on comparative aggregate data and surveys in countries representative of ideal types according to the original version of the varieties of capitalism, worlds of welfare, and integration models literature, in particular France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contemporary public debates on social cohesion in Europe at both the European Union (EU) and member-state level tend to reduce the topic to the ‘problem’ of immigration by third-country nationals, and the integration of these immigrants and their descendants into European national societies. These debates often emphasize a culturalist perspective on the social cohesion of national societies based on core national cultures, identities and histories that pre-date the mass immigration of non-EU/European Economic Area immigrants, with social cohesion depending on their identifiable assimilation to this core set of values, beliefs and behaviours. This culture-based perspective on social cohesion has become an integral component of the neoliberal reorganization of the interventionist state in Europe that both punishes the native poor and coerces the immigrant third-country national as it frees markets and restructures the European welfare state. Yet, an examination of European social cohesion policies across seven policy domains suggests that the problem of social cohesion has little to do either with the issue of immigration or of immigrant and ethnic minority integration. However, it does have a lot to do with increasing inequalities and insecurities in European societies that result from neoliberal political economic policies. Drawing on Émile Durkheim's seminal discussion of social cohesion that includes structural and cultural dimensions, Boucher analyses the seven policy domains of European social cohesions within a functionalist framework that highlights inconsistencies, policy gaps and internal tensions between the domains. His analysis suggests the need for a more coherent, integrated and multilevel governance policy framework based on social justice, socio-economic equality and cultural diversity to achieve the elusive goal of social cohesion in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the last decade, many descendants of immigrants from Turkey have been grappling with new expressions of their belongingness and workable identifiers to express their place within German society. Those searching are often citizens and young professionals who have been born or raised there. Until recently it had been assumed that incorporation though citizenship would be a sufficient basis for becoming Germans. It was also a political belief that to introduce the territorial right (ius soli) to citizenship would be a step toward Germany recognizing itself as a country of immigration. Whether or not this has been the case is addressed in this article. To do this critical events since the initiation of the settlement process and the messages communicated during this period will be examined. A review of these events and messages suggests that tradition, institutions and public discourse continue to articulate an ethnicized view of citzenship that creates barriers to identification with becoming a German. Two prototypes of responses to this situation are analyzed. Finally, there is a discussion of the understanding of citizenship required in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research compares cities between and within the United States and Europe with respect to their dimensionality and degree of immigrant incorporation. Based on theoretical perspectives about immigrant incorporation, structural differentiation and national incorporation regimes, we hypothesize that more inclusionary (MI) cities will show more dimensions of incorporation and more favorable incorporation outcomes than less inclusionary (LI) places, especially in regard to labor market and spatial variables. We use data from recent major surveys of young adult second-generation groups carried out in Los Angeles, New York, and 11 European cities to assess these ideas. The findings indicate that second-generation immigrants in New York (MI) and in European MI places (i.e. cities in the Netherlands, Sweden and France) show greater dimensionality of incorporation (and thus by implication more pathways of advancement) respectively than is the case in Los Angeles (LI) or in European LI places (i.e. cities in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland). We discuss the significance of these results for understanding how the structures of opportunity confronting immigrants and their children in various places make a difference for the nature and extent of their integration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The oft-quoted phrase, ‘why can’t we just all get along?’ is a cynical reference to seemingly intractable conflicts of all kinds. Implied in the question is the idea that people stake out positions that can never be sufficiently modified to reach the goal of ‘getting along’. The impreciseness of definition and use of certain terms in discourse related to European ethnic minorities has resulted in a polarization of positions by academic researchers, policymakers and the general public. This concept explication addresses the multiple definitions and use of terms and shifts in policies in Europe and calls for renewed efforts to understand differing points of view. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the political incorporation of minority migrant groups in Western Europe by analysing voting rates. I present the first quantitative data that compare turnout rates among multiple minority migrant groups in France and show that non-European-origin migrant groups have lower turnout rates than native French metropolitans. I claim neighbourhood effects can explain these turnout differences, suggesting that the underlying determinants of minority migrant voting behaviour in France are similar to those of native metropolitans. However, because non-European-origin migrants are more likely than native metropolitans to live in disadvantaged urban areas they have lower turnout rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent comparative social science research has emphasised that different patterns of incorporating Muslim migrant minorities are related to institutional varieties of religious governance in Western European countries. This article focuses on the emergence of institutional elements of religious governance at the European level and their impact on the organisational and symbolic incorporation of Muslims. Drawing on conceptual tools from institutional theories in sociology, it is argued that the emergence of highly differentiated institutional domains of law, politics and identity at the European level has resulted in the convergence of basic legal principles of religious governance as well as in the persistence of divergent national patterns of incorporating religious minorities. These contradictory trends explain specific features of contemporary Muslim migrants' struggles for public recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on a study discussed within the issue about the acculturation and marginalization of immigrant youth in northwestern Europe. The author reflects on how the issue can be associated to the social position and the educational functioning of children in Israel. The author contends that acculturation must follow four different ways. In conclusion, the author emphasizes the significance of combining the basic patterns of the old cultures with the tenets of the new culture.