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For asylum route refugees, the existence and persistence of structural barriers to navigating statutory systems are well-documented. Even when initial barriers are overcome, further transitions may disrupt refugees' lives. One such is the arrival in the UK of family members from whom they had been separated during their flight from persecution. This paper draws upon data gathered using a Social Connections Mapping Tool methodology with reunited refugee families to make three contributions to the field of refugee studies. Firstly, families' accounts of navigating statutory systems confirm the multi-directionality of integration. Refugees' efforts to build and leverage social links proceed differentially across key statutory domains and cannot alone overcome systems barriers that require adaptation on the part of public services. Secondly, our findings contribute to scholarship that critiques the division of social relationships into categories of bonds, bridges and links, and the distinctions made between these based on ethnicity or nationality. Rather, refugees' social relationships are more appropriately understood as a fluid continuum, with their nature and purpose subject to change. Finally, refugee families' descriptions of settling in the UK highlight the influence of time on integration and the importance to refugees of re-building independence in a new country context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As in many developed countries, in the UK the unemployment rate of ethnic minorities is higher than the unemployment rate of the white British majority. These differences may be due to a higher probability of ethnic minorities entering unemployment by losing a job, or to a lower probability of exiting unemployment by finding a job. Using Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, this paper analyses what individual and job characteristics contribute to job loss, what contribute to job finding, and to what extent ethnic unemployment differentials can be explained by such characteristics. For both men and women the results show no relevant ethnic differences in the probability to transition from a paid job into unemployment. Only Indian UK born women seem more likely to transition than white British majority women, while for other groups the small differences are in favour of ethnic minorities. Segregation in occupations characterised by low wages and less stable jobs does not seem to contribute to the higher unemployment rate of ethnic minorities. The main determinant of ethnic unemployment differentials seems to be the longer duration of unemployment for ethnic minorities, which, however, remains largely unexplained after the inclusion of individual and household characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohesion and integration agendas in Britain can be characterised by localisation of 'race relations' responsibilities and the importance of local institutions in shaping neighbourhoods has been acknowledged. However, little is understood about the roles of housing providers in integration initiatives. Indeed, research on housing and race has experienced a lull in the 2000s. Thus, this paper aims to examine how social housing providers negotiate their positions and are complicit in constructing a certain vision of community. It draws on interviews from the ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE)'s work in the ethnically diverse neighbourhoods of Cheetham Hill (Manchester), Newham (London), Butetown (Cardiff) and Pollokshields and Govanhill (Glasgow). The paper makes three arguments: first, that race and ethnicity as facets of 'integration' have been subsumed into broader agendas, yet remain implicit in community building; second, that housing organisation practices are often detached from local meanings of community and prioritise exclusionary activities focusing on behaviour change and, third, that the roles of housing organisations in constructing 'integrated' communities are highly variable and localised, influenced by the history and contemporary dynamics of place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western states are concerned about maintaining and securing national borders. Across Europe, one response has been to implement restrictive asylum regimes that prevent ‘bogus’ applicants and grant refuge only to the ‘deserving’. Alongside these concerns, states are eager to encourage socially cohesive communities. One recent tool adopted by the UK government has been citizenship policy, including English language/life in the UK tests and citizenship ceremonies. By drawing upon in-depth interviews with refugees in Scotland (UK), this paper explores the impact of the current asylum regime and citizenship policies from the perspective of individual voices that are often absent from wider debates. It explores how temporary refugee status impacts upon individuals' everyday lives including employment and education, and impacts upon children. The data also question the reasons for refugees deciding to become British citizens (or not) and highlight instrumental reasons alongside less tangible factors such as gaining a sense of security. Taking the discussion forward, the study explores some unintended consequences of immigration and citizenship policies in the UK. The research suggests that not only do restrictive asylum policies negatively impact upon refugees and their integration but also serve to elevate fear and uncertainty, which can unintentionally spur individuals to seek naturalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Jewish population living in Britain has commonly been depicted as a 'model of integration'. This paper explores the social and spatial transitions made by the Jewish community over the course of more than a century of settlement and adaptation, with particular reference to Leeds. Using an historical perspective, the paper traces the changing 'place' of Jews in wider society in terms of their socio-economic status and how they construct themselves as a religious and ethnic minority in Britain. Drawing on a mixed methods approach, the paper reveals how Leeds Jews' understandings of community, identity, integration and citizenship have evolved over time. The research uncovers diverse and complex interpretations of Jewishness and integration, which unsettle the idealised notions of community, the straightforward trajectory of adaptation, and unproblematic conceptions of identity embedded in the Jewish model of integration. The paper reflects on the implications of the Jewish experience for current debates and discourses on 'race', difference and social integration in twenty-first-century Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critical examination of various community cohesion and asylum and immigration reports and strategies produced in the United Kingdom in recent years, and culminating in the Home Office's Strength in Diversity consultation strategy launched in May 2004. I argue that, in these various reports and documents, reducing race inequality and integrating ‘new’ migrants into British society take precedence over other considerations, and especially over problems facing the often already disadvantaged White ‘host’ communities that receive ‘new’ migrants through the National Asylum Dispersal Scheme. In this paper this emphasis on asylum-seekers’ ‘integration’ will be contrasted with recommendations found in the Community Cohesion Panel's report The End of Parallel Lives? (2004), which advocates a balanced approach combining the managed settlement of asylum-seekers into ‘host’ communities and the Home Office's emphasis on managing ‘new migrant’ integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes the case for a joint redefinition of the concepts of transnationalism and integration in a way that would allow a better combination. Transnationalism is here defined as a coping strategy for migrants who strive to manage their integration into two (or more) settings. Integration is commonly depicted as a multi-level process which combines a social embedding into a web of interpersonal or associational relations and a systemic embedding into wider economic or political systems. Next to these levels, this work highlights a third one, namely the identity integration of migrants who seek to maintain a balance between the poles of their identity. This conceptual framework is applied in order to analyse the emergence of collective practices of development among two North African groups in France (the Moroccan Chleuhs and the Algerian Kabyles) and one UK-based North Indian group (the Sikh Punjabis). It is shown that transnational development practices, in the form of collective remittances, constitute a matrix of identity integration for migrants who want to reinvent their identity of villager despite the transformations induced by their stay abroad. However, the success of their actual engagement into cross-border practices largely depends on the effectiveness of their systemic and social integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new millennium there has been a shift away from multiculturalism and the politics of difference towards integration, assimilation and a gradual 'thickening' of political belonging. The alleged weaknesses of the multicultural model and advantages of thicker, communitarian notions of community are highlighted in recent discourses on migrant incorporation and increasingly reflected in citizenship and migration policies across European countries. In this paper I critically examine citizenship reform and civic integration policies in the United Kingdom and argue that the fashionable language of integration represents a politically dated and normatively deficient approach to ethnic diversity. I furnish the basic tenets of an alternative pluralist mode of inclusion based on respectful symbiosis and the 'letting be' of groups of migrant origin, and examine the conditions for such a model's empirical implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reformulates classical questions regarding the plans and strategies of Polish migrants in the UK-such as decisions to leave or remain in the host country, or be 'deliberately indeterminate' about future plans-from a sociologically situated 'rights-based' perspective. This approach considers migrant's attitudes towards specific 'civic integration' measures in a medium-term time frame, as well as in the new context created by the UK's vote to leave the EU. Based on the quantitative analysis of original survey data, we investigate the factors behind Polish migrant's migration strategies and we argue that basic socio-economic and demographic factors are inadequate, on their own terms, to explain future migration and civic integration plans. Instead, we find that aspects such as interest in and awareness of one's rights, as well as anxieties about the ability to maintain one's rights in the future are stronger determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unprecedented number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) have arrived in Europe over the last decade, and young Afghans account for the highest proportion of UASC across England, Scotland and Wales. Despite a wealth of UK policies aimed at ensuring positive outcomes for young people who have been through the care-system, and a rich body of research exploring the experiences of child refugees and asylum-seekers, less has been documented about the experiences of former UASC after they reach the age of eighteen. An example of practice-based research, this article draws on three new primary data sources to examine the factors that facilitate and impede the socioeconomic integration and wellbeing of young Afghans who arrived in the UK as unaccompanied children but who are now aged eighteen or older. We demonstrate the important role of educational achievement in creating socioeconomic opportunities, shed light on the ubiquitous influence of unresolved immigration status in detracting from wellbeing, and consider the future of these young people in the UK's current socio-political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the simultaneous processes of transnational activism and integration amongst Somalis living in the UK. It argues that, rather than challenging integration, diasporic Somalis' involvement in transnational activism may actually support integration, andvice versa. Transnational engagement fulfils a range of functions that relate not only to the country of origin, but also to community formation in the UK. Such practices may, in some cases, promote integration while, in others, they create a space in which those who experience difficulty integrating can still forge meaningful relations both in the country of settlement and with the dispersed transnational Somali community. In the context of the 2011 famine in Somalia, Somali community activism in the UK rose to new heights, helping to reinforce the integration–transnational activism relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The notion of segregation in its current application in British social policy confuses rather than illuminates social processes. While its historical roots lie in a discriminatory practice that was legally instilled in the US, current usage implies the self-segregation of minority ethnic groups. This paper examines the historical legacy of segregation in the US and UK to argue that a shift has occurred in the discourse surrounding the integration of ethnic minority groups, particularly British Muslims. Any attempt to advocate desegregation as a way to promote material equality has been replaced by its use to promote the removal of cultural difference. Contemporary British social policy has taken this further by advocating the necessity of social capital as a means to achieve community cohesion and shared values, further shifting emphasis away from material difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I review and examine the assumed link between intermarriage and integration. I focus primarily on literature from the US and Britain. Intermarriage is said to signal a significant lessening of 'social distance' between a minority group and the White majority, enabling unions between groups which would previously have been taboo. It is often assumed that intermarriage for ethnic minorities is the ultimate litmus test of integration, but is it? And if there is a link between intermarriage and integration, what is the nature and extent of 'integration' achieved by minority groups and by the minority partner? I argue that the link between intermarriage and integration is both more tenuous and more complex than many social scientists have argued, and needs a critical reappraisal, especially in multiethnic societies which are witnessing unprecedented levels of diversity, both across and within their ethnic minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous work has drawn attention to the relative absence of British Chinese voices in public culture. No one is more aware of this invisibility than British-born Chinese people themselves. Since 2000 the emergence of Internet discussion sites produced by British Chinese young people has provided an important forum for many of them to grapple with questions concerning their identities, experiences and status in Britain. In this paper we explore the ways in which Internet usage by British-born Chinese people has facilitated forms of self-expression, collective identity production and social and political action. This examination of British Chinese websites raises important questions about inclusion and exclusion, citizenship, participation and the development of a sense of belonging in Britain, issues which are usually overlooked in relation to a group which appears to be well integrated and successful in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sites of Muslim settlement in the UK are frequently portrayed as poorly integrated and governed areas – a situation that is often attributed to the excessive cultural and religious accommodation of Muslim minorities under flawed policies of state multiculturalism. Through a case study of an English city, Birmingham, home to the UK's largest Muslim population outside of London, I argue that sites of Muslim settlement have, rather, been subject to extraordinary and punitive governing practices. These governing practices moreover rely for their legitimacy on the portrayal of these sites as poorly integrated and governed. Nevertheless, whilst areas of Muslim settlement have been subject to spatially focused, punitive forms of governance, these have not necessarily been fully coherent and they have also been contested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the author’s original concept of social anchoring, referring to the processes of finding significant footholds which enable migrants to acquire socio-psychological stability and security and function effectively in new life settings, to theorise adaptation and ‘settlement’ mechanisms that are utilised by migrants. Drawing on interviews and questionnaires with 40 Polish migrants in the U.K., autobiographical research and material from Internet blogs and forums, it focuses on processes playing a vital role in connecting migrants to British society and the mechanisms of developing them in social anchors. This article presents a more comprehensive approach to ‘settlement’ (understood as a state of stability) than the integration approach and adds to the prevalent understanding of adaptation. It moves our thinking beyond the concepts of identity and integration as well as linking the issues of adaptation, security and stability, highlighting, on the one hand, the psychological and emotional aspects of adaptation and ‘settlement’ and, on the other hand, tangible footholds and structural constraints. Its significance lies in the fact that it allows for complexity, variety, simultaneity and changeability of anchoring and the reverse processes of unanchoring to be included, thus helping in the analysis of increasingly complex, superdiverse and ‘fluid’ societies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article draws on substantial ethnographic data among Ugandans in Britain and Uganda. It takes a migrant-centred approach to its discussion to reflect the relationship between assumptions of integration and institutional, socio-cultural and socio-economic dimensions. This highlights colonial transnational practices that continue to inform migrants' everyday lives. The article shows how migrants' understanding of education as a vital component of social mobility and status is attributed to the legacy of British colonial administration. This means that, for Ugandans, the process of adaptation in the UK comes with a different set of connotations, as this heritage remains of key significance to migrants' expectations. Important dimensions to the interfaces between transnationalism and integration are shown to be labour-market participation and immigration status. Place and identity emerge as points of intersectionality where the negotiated nature of transnationalism and integration processes is revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Britain, the dispersal system for asylum-seekers, introduced in April 2000, has been widely criticised for its negative impacts, upon both asylum-seekers and the regions to which they were dispersed. This article addresses the effects of dispersal on refugee community organisations (RCOs) through two principal aims, the first of which is to outline the effects of dispersal upon RCOs in selected fieldwork locations. Three themes are examined: the growth in refugee communities outside London, the constraints of funding regimes and the politics of community representation in the local policy environment. The second aim, developed through the presentation of our fieldwork material, is to establish a critical perspective on the role and function of RCOs. We question the assumed integrative role of RCOs as interpreted in the policy and academic literature, and we underline the importance to the integration process of informal networks in refugee communities. A central strand of our argument is that the analysis of RCOs needs to be firmly anchored within the broader context of migrant incorporation operating in Britain. We conclude that the dispersal arrangements serve as a model of inclusion and representation for RCOs which is heavily conditioned by the broader race relations and multicultural framework. Far from promoting the integration of refugees, this framework may rather perpetuate a condition of institutionalised marginality for refugee groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the general issue of immigrants' social integration in the EU through a comparative analysis at the national level of two EU countries: Italy and the UK. It distinguishes between immigration policy and immigrant policy, and it highlights major problems related to both the categorisation of immigrants in receiving countries and immigrants' social integration. It focuses specifically on housing policy, which bears heavily on the integration of immigrants into the respective societies of receiving countries. It also considers how close EU member-states are to reaching a Common Immigration Policy, especially in view of the fact that the 'Europeanisation' of immigration policy has concentrated mainly on the problem of entry control rather than immigrant policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]