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This paper presents an overview of approaches and proposals to improve the integration of migrant children in schools in Spain and it is linked to the European research project Migrant Children and Communities in a Transforming Europe (MiCREATE). It focuses on a part of the research in which stakeholders were interviewed. Based on the needs of migrant children and practices already implemented in Spain, experts from different fields problematised and proposed improvements in current policies and practices in education. The main conclusions indicate that a more holistic and transversal approach to the inclusion of migrants is needed, as well as better coordination between institutions in different contexts and areas of action. This implies rethinking inclusive practices and involving children's families and taking their environment into consideration, as well as supporting educational practices that foster a sense of belonging among migrant children and their families in schools, the community, and society. Finally, the paper highlights the importance of gathering data from stakeholders in different fields of expertise and areas of action in order to obtain a more complex and insightful overview of the phenomenon under study.

During the past two decades, an increasing number of European countries have introduced language requirements for residency, citizenship, and sometimes even for entry to the country and family reunification. As a result, democratic rights as well as basic human rights have come to depend upon an individual's ability to obtain a certain score on a language test and the consequences of failing may be detrimental. In the field of language testing, this use of language tests is often referred to as "test misuse," yet the term lacks a precise definition in the literature. In this paper we propose a definition of test misuse in relation to language tests for migration purposes and focus particular attention on low-literate adult migrants for whom the requirements pose a considerable barrier. The main purpose of this paper is to address the question why language tests are being misused in migration policies, exploring linguistic, political as well as test theoretical explanations. We suggest that a more central role of test misuse in validity theory is essential in order to remedy its lack of research focus in our field.

This paper explores the contribution to geography teaching which can be made by serious games. We describe the ways in which gaming has progressed from "dissected maps" and jigsaws through board games, to the range of online games which are available today. We describe the development, in conjunction with European partner institutions, of a new game, entitled "RU EU?", intended to raise student awareness of European issues, notably the question of European identity; this seems to be both important and topical at the time of Brexit. We describe the development and the nature of the game and its launch, and the feedback which we have received from students who have played it, and suggest that, while it is not necessarily a substitute for traditional lecture-style teaching, games such as this can provide an additional tool in the geography lecturer's armoury.

The paper provides an example of how immigration is constructed by receiving societies as a comprehension or language problem that requires special solutions. It focuses on the application of Easy-to-Read, a simplified register currently in expansion which addresses different groups of people with intellectual disabilities, to immigrants in Spain. Following a general introduction on the glottopolitical approach to migration processes and a historical overview of tendencies of discursive simplification in Europe and the Americas, the co-text of the term 'immigrants' in a corpus including drafting guides of Easy-to-Read, newspapers and websites of the supporters of this variety is analysed in the empirical part. Methods of semantic discourse analysis (semantic relations and prototype theory) allow to identify new meanings and categories that are constructed in the selected texts ('immigrant' as a co-hyponym of 'person with a disability').

This paper assumes that there has been a discourse shift in the understanding of internationalization from an idealistic view on overcoming national narrow-mindedness to an economic view of effectiveness and self-improvement, which also affects the discourse on Europeanization and building Europe by education. Against this background, the question of which consequences this discourse shift has for education and professionalization, is asked. In the end, two contradictions are pointed out as boundaries of professionalizing European education: the first lies in the opposed understanding of Europe and education for Europe; and the second in the replacement of politics by education (understood not only as bottom up control of political aims by education but also as a specific idea of humanity).

The present era is characterized by scientists' high level of mobility, which is due to the characteristics of science work and its dynamic nature. Scientific activity knows no boundaries, and mobility is a vital factor of the mutual cultural and professional enrichment of scientific communities. The international migration of scientists is creating opportunities and challenges for societies that both lose and gain scientists. In this article, the author describes the types of scientists' social mobility and discusses the state regulation of the social mobility of scientists in Russia, Western Europe, and the United States. The author also identifies negative consequences of scientists' social mobility in these countries. The high level of scientists' international mobility has introduced serious changes in the mechanism of the reproduction of the scientific elite in Russia. Owing to the emigration character of mobility and the lack of an appropriate science policy, Russia is lagging behind the developed countries of Europe and the United States when it comes to indicators of its inclusion in the world science community. Here, the author argues that more attention needs to be given by the Russian government to the development of programs and organizations that would enable Russian science to be more competitive internationally.

In this paper, we use data from the first two rounds of the European Social Survey to analyze the extent to which differences in average attitudes towards immigration across the EU-15 countries may be explained by differences in socioeconomic characteristics and individually perceived consequences of immigration, using an extension of a decomposition technique developed by Fairlie (2005). We find that despite the significant effects of socioeconomic characteristics on attitudes, differences in the distributions of these characteristics can only explain a modest share of the cross-country variation in average attitudes. A larger part can be explained by differences in perceived consequences of immigration, but the main part is still left unexplained. Apart from providing useful input for policy makers working in the area of immigration policy, this raises a number of questions for further research for which the ESS data can be successfully applied.

Purpose: The purpose of this analysis is to collect and classify the most important diversity indices, outline the logical connections between them and answer the following question: How much will the results differ if the authors use different indices for explaining the same dependent variable (attitude toward cultural pluralism), and what kind of relationships are observable in the European societies? Design/methodology/approach: The diversity indices are good for compressing information on the number and shares of ethnic groups in a given setting into single numbers in order to use them as independent variables. However, it matters which index the authors choose because it can make a meaningful difference in the assessment of the potential impacts of diversification. Our empirical study (based on 43 European countries and 160 regions) concluded that the correlation coefficients between the most important indices are above 0.8. Thus, in practice, none of them gives a fundamentally different answer to the question: how does diversity/diversification influences people's attitudes toward multiculturalism. Findings: By linking these results with the European Social Survey database the authors concluded that the more diverse a population in 2014 was, a more positive attitude toward multiculturalism was expressed. However, if the authors focus on the dynamics of diversification, the spread of points is much greater and polynomial (U-shaped curvilinear) trendlines are better suitable to grasp the relationships. It means that people tend to react very differently to similar societal changes in those regions where a moderate degree of diversification took place. Originality/value: International migration and ethno-cultural diversification are hotly debated issues in contemporary Europe, and there is a growing interest in understanding their possible social, economic and political outcomes. A question of key importance for the social sciences to adequately answer the challenges is the capability to measure these processes in a quantitative way as well. This paper helps decide which diversity index might be the optimum solution for a given research project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent elections have highlighted how electoral cycles are often accompanied by increases in negative rhetoric surrounding immigration. Exploiting as-if random assignment in individual interview dates for the European Social Survey, this paper examines how proximity to elections affects individual preferences on immigration. We find that closer to elections, attitudes toward immigration become more negative. This effect is primarily driven by country-elections where party platforms are more likely to include anti-immigrant rhetoric. When elections are more distant, these effects largely disappear, highlighting the possibility that anti-immigration electoral mandates are based on artificially inflated concerns of the electorate about immigration. Overall, these results provide important insights into how elections influence issue stances and social cohesion in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Largely due to immigration, European societies have grown increasingly diverse. The current study seeks to determine how citizens characterize their experiences with this diversity and whether various types of intergroup exposure can influence immigration attitudes. This analysis takes a unique approach by comparing positive, negative, and neutral intergroup exposure characterizations, along with those reporting no exposure at all. Using internationally representative data from the 2014 European Social Survey, this paper demonstrates how these different characterizations predict citizens' immigration attitudes. Results indicate that positive and negative experiences have opposing effects that are roughly symmetrical in magnitude and both are more intense when experienced in high frequency. Neutral exposure is actually much more common than negative experiences and represents a net benefit compared to those with no exposure at all. The results present important implications for future research and highlight several encouraging patterns for diversity across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse discourses about Europe in Greek debates about immigration and citizenship and highlight the complexities of 'Europeanness' as a symbolic resource for argumentation in these debates. Our data consist of lay discourses from 2 rounds of online public deliberation (2009-2010 and 2015) about a controversial new citizenship law in Greece. Our analysis shows that Europe is an ambivalent category. On the one hand, Europe symbolises progress, but, on the other hand, it is also constructed in terms of decline and 'contamination' by multiculturalism. Further, our analysis shows that the category of Europe can be mobilised in contradictory ways, in order to support arguments for and against citizenship rights for migrants. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which constructions of Europe are implicated in processes of othering and inclusion in the context of current immigration debates. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, cultural diversity is being paid attention to by economists, signifying the importance of international allocation of human capital to world economic wellbeing. This paper attempts to understand how Europe can optimally benefit from cultural diversity while facing a spectrum of obstacles. Hypotheses tested by past studies are important but are generally limited by the multidimensional dynamics of the causality mechanism. This paper synthesizes the social, economic, and institutional element spiral within cultural diversity by proposing a culture–economy framework to understand economic prosperity. This paper is developed by three syntheses of the substantive literature: 1) identifying the research agenda of cultural diversity and economic prosperity, 2) conceptualizing the multidimensional dynamics from cultural diversity to economic prosperity, namely the culture–economy framework, and 3) understanding Asia–Europe relations with respect to cultural diversity and creative destruction. Intercultural learning amid complex interactions of identified elements between factor productivity and barriers was found to be the micro-foundation that links cultural diversity to economic prosperity in Europe. Cultural diversity was found to be the cause of richer ideas, heuristics, perspectives, and skills, suggesting the potential sustainability of economic prosperity with creativity-oriented policies in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developed countries have turned to immigration in order to mitigate the consequences of population aging, particularly the expected decline in the labor force population. Yet, few projection models take in consideration explicitly the differentials in labor force participation of population sub-groups. This paper describes the labor force participation module of CEPAM-Mic, which is a microsimulation model that projects several demographic, ethnocultural, and socioeconomic dimensions of the EU28 member countries population. Then, the microsimulation model is used to project EU labor force population for the period 2015–2060 under different scenarios illustrating how implementing sex- and country-specific dynamics of immigrants' integration may affect the future labor force in terms of size, rates, and gender composition. We estimated the parameters of the labor force module using logistic regressions based on the EU-Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). In addition to age, sex, and education, immigrant-related variables are also included, such as immigrant status, place of birth, age at immigration, and duration of residence in the estimation of the probability of being active. Our results demonstrate the importance of taking into account differentials in labor force participation of population sub-groups when asserting the potential of immigration as a tool for managing population aging. In the European context, adding immigration differentials in labor force participation affects mainly downward the number of female immigrants in the labor force, while smaller differences are observed for male immigrants. An increase in immigration levels leads obviously to an increase in the total labor force size, but may also widen gender inequalities in labor force participation and has limited impact on the total labor force participation rate. Our findings suggest that relying on immigration as a tool to alleviate economic issues arising from population aging must imperatively be accompanied by strong and efficient measures to promote a full economic integration of immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Economic theory predicts that unemployment benefits may increase expected income and reduce its volatility, thereby attracting immigrants to countries which implement such programs. This article aims to explore whether and how changes in countries' unemployment benefit spending (UBS) affect immigration. Design/methodology/approach – Data are collected for 19 European countries over the period 1993-2008. The relationship between immigration flows and UBS is first tested using the OLS technique. Instrumental variable (IV) and generalised method of moments (GMM) are then used to address reverse causality. Findings – While the OLS estimates suggest the existence of a moderate within-country welfare magnet effect for the inflows of non-EU immigrants, the IV approach reveals that the impact is substantially smaller and statistically insignificant when GMM techniques are implemented. Research limitations/implications – Since information on the immigrants' country of origin is not available, it is not possible to exclude that for immigrants coming from certain areas, unemployment benefits constitute a strong incentive to immigrate. This hypothesis awaits further research, once detailed data is available. Originality/value – This paper complements previous literature on immigration and welfare by exploring the endogenous nature of welfare spending. The empirical results provide insights into the interaction between immigration and welfare policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – In the public arena, immigrants are easily recognized as "vulnerable" but also "as a risk" for the social environment. They are associated with stigmatized infectious-contagious health conditions, with deviant or disturbed behaviours, with poor education and hygiene, and with dubious morality and parental competence. This paper aims to analyse the complex array of targeted programmes designed in the last decades in Europe in order to intervene on immigrants' health practices and lifestyles. Design/methodology/approach – The paper was designed to engage with a critical approach to the healthcare sector, rendering visible the rationale behind such programmes of intervention by focusing on the relations between the representation of immigrants' health, the symbolic and physical borders of the body and the nation, the welfare state, and the contemporary politics of care. Findings – The paper highlights: the racialization of public health and social care policy, which have been constituting migrant populations as unsanitary citizens; the intervention of social care programmes as technologies of citizenship in order to guide these populations towards specific models of body, health, behaviour and life projects; and the paradigmatic shifts in the way healthcare is perceived and deployed, and its ethical and political implications. Originality/value – Building on the contributions from medical anthropology, historical sociology, and governmentality studies, the paper sheds a new light on the subject by positioning the practices of healthcare on a racialized post-colonial setting of intervening on populations constituting vulnerabilities and managing risks through medical expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This article aims to highlight the dark side of the restrictive immigration policies, undertaken both at European and national level, paying special attention to the negative effects that these policies can cause. Design/methodology/approach – In particular, the article focuses on two of the main aims stated by these migration policies: the organization of legal immigration and the control of the illegal immigration. Findings – The paper demonstrates how the repressive instruments, today put into practice, not only have not been a solution, but they have produced destructive effects, such as: the increasing of illegal immigration and the consequential increasing of the exploitation of immigrants – making the borders between smuggling and trafficking more and more transitory – the strengthening of the more and more professionalized criminal organization and finally the enlargement of the black market's borders, of which the European single market feeds itself. Originality/value – The paper offers insights into the dark side of European immigration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do immigration attitudes form? Drawing on the political socialization literature, I argue that growing up in a recession causes a lasting increase in anti-immigration attitudes. I delineate two mechanisms that emphasize the negative consequences of recessions for young workers and the anti-immigration narrative that often emerges during economic turmoil. Young adults are particularly vulnerable to these external shocks because they have minimal political experience and are developing their core political attitudes. Support is provided for this argument with evidence from the European Social Survey. An economic shock during young adulthood causes a significant increase in anti-immigration attitudes, a relationship not found for other ages. I find tentative evidence that growing up in a recession has a larger effect on the racial and cultural dimensions of immigration and causes a broader sociotropic response. Results highlight how economic crises affect the socialization of young adults and underscore their lasting political consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper's main purpose is to evaluate immigrants' demand for social assistance and services and identify the key barriers to social and labor market inclusion of immigrants in the European Union. Design/methodology/approach – An online primary survey of experts from NGOs and public organizations working on immigrant integration in the member states of the European Union was carried out. The data is analyzed using simple comparative statistical methods; the robustness of the results is tested by means of logit and ordered logit statistical models. Findings – The authors find that the general public in Europe has rather negative attitudes towards immigrants. Although the business community views immigrants somewhat less negatively, barriers to immigrant labor market inclusion identified include language and human capital gaps, a lack of recognition of foreign qualifications, discrimination, non-transparent labor markets and institutional barriers such as legal restrictions for foreign citizens. Exclusion from higher education, housing and the services of the financial sector aggravate these barriers. Changes in the areas of salaried employment, education, social insurance, mobility and attitudes are seen as desired by members of ethnic minorities. The current economic downturn is believed to have increased the importance of active inclusion policies, especially in the areas of employment and education. These results appear to be robust with respect to a number of characteristics of respondents and their organizations. Research limitations/implications – The authors' findings are not limited to the sample studied, which is supported by their robustness analysis. However an extended opinion survey of the ethnic minority population is required to more accurately examine the problems faced by diverse groups of immigrants across EU member states. Practical implications – The findings of the study call for more effective diversity management and integration strategies to ensure non-discrimination and better integration of ethnic minorities into the labor markets of member states. Originality/value – There are few studies using primary survey data that have identified a wide range of barriers and challenges to economic integration faced by ethnic minorities in an enlarged European Union. The cross-national opinion survey uniquely reflects views and suggestions of practitioners and immigrant minorities themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures the impact of immigration on migrants' involvement in associations across Europe. Using multilevel analysis on European Social Survey (ESS) data, we address three questions: Are immigrants likely to become members in voluntary associations? Does this likelihood change with the length of stay in the host country? Does the type of the association make a difference? The findings show that the likelihood of migrants participating in associations increases with the length of stay, while second-generation migrant participation is similar to that of the host society. The relation is stronger for expressive associations and weaker for instrumental-utilitarian ones, while religious organisations are more likely to attract new immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses innovative democratic forums carried out in Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom to examine people's ideas about welfare-state priorities and future prospects. We use a moral economy framework in the context of regime differences and the move towards neo-liberalism across Europe. Broadly speaking, attitudes reflect regime differences, with distinctive emphasis on reciprocity and the value of work in Germany, inclusion and equality in Norway, and individual responsibility and the work-ethic in the UK. Neo-liberal market-centred ideas appear to have made little headway in regard to popular attitudes, except in the already liberal-leaning UK. There is also a striking assumption by UK participants that welfare is threatened externally by immigrants who take jobs from established workers and internally by the work-shy who undermine the work-ethic. A key role of the welfare state is repressive rather than enabling: to protect against threats to well-being rather than provide benefits for citizens. UK participants also anticipate major decline in state provision. In all three countries there is strong support for continuing and expanding social investment policies, but for different reasons: to enable contribution in Germany, to promote equality and mobility in Norway, and to facilitate self-responsibility in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contends that exclusionary views towards out-group populations are formed along two dimensions: exclusion from the country and exclusion from equal rights. Data obtained from the European Social Survey (for twenty-one countries) reveal that objection to the admission of foreigners to the country is more pronounced than objection to the allocation of 'equal rights'. The data further suggest that objection to admission can be directed either at all non-nationals or only at ethnic and racial minorities. 'Total exclusionists' (i.e. support exclusion of all non-nationals) are more likely to support the denial of foreigners from equal rights than 'racial exclusionists' (i.e. support only exclusion of ethnic minorities). Multi-level analyses show that support for exclusion is also influenced by socio-economic characteristics of individuals (e.g. education, political orientation) and characteristics of their countries (e.g. size of the non-European population). The findings are discussed in light of sociological theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines new migration to Europe in the context of EU enlargement and debates about fortress Europe, framing the general agenda for the papers that follow in this special issue. We argue that the (normatively informed) image of fortress Europe is an inadequate account of migration and migration policy in Europe in three respects: the movement of family members, asylum-seekers and labour migrants has been substantially positive; enlargement itself generates dynamics of inclusion as much as exclusion; and there exists a significant component of intra-European circulatory migration. Against the fortress account, the article offers a market-driven analysis of new migration to Europe. In developing this account, we stress how existing theoretical accounts of immigration policy - dominated by a state-centred institutionalist and political focus - offer at best only partial explanations of the new European migration scenario. Both neo-liberal and older Marxian theories of the international immigration labour market need to be re-introduced to explain the selective, expansive and reconfiguring effect of market forces on European immigration policies. Our aim is to underline how new tendencies in East-West migration in Europe challenge and transform the traditional migrant trajectory from migrant to citizen that lies at the heart of state-centred accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article brings together two rather different trends in the religious life of twenty-first century Europe. On the one hand, secularization continues—faster in some places than others and with varying implications for the society in question. On the other, Europe—and especially western Europe—is becoming increasingly diverse, an equally inexorable development brought about by immigration. Is it possible to reconcile the two, keeping in mind that secularization erodes religious literacy, thus impeding constructive conversation about religion in public life, whereas the management of religious diversity demands this capacity on an almost daily basis? All too often the result is an ill-informed and ill-mannered debate. Can anything be done? Is it possible, in other words, to encourage a better conversation about religion in this part of the world? Understanding the religious dimensions of the current conflict in Ukraine raises similar—but distinctive—issues; they are central to the underlying discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-ethnic contact has long been held as a key means of ameliorating possible inter-group tensions and facilitating the integration of increasing immigrant populations into society. However, our understanding of the role of contact in this relationship may be limited due to the omission of contact-valence; that is, whether contact is experienced positively or negatively. This paper integrates the concept of contact-valence into the question of how increasing community diversity affects attitudes towards immigrants via inter-group contact, across Europe. We posit the existence of dual, mediating pathways of both positive and negative inter-group contact. Applying generalized structural equation models to data from the 2014 European Social Survey, we find that living in more diverse communities increases the frequency of positive inter-group contact but also negative inter-group contact. While the former is positively associated with inter-group attitudes the latter is negatively associated. Testing demonstrates that diversity exerts countervailing positive and negative indirect-effects on attitudes towards immigrants via processes of inter-group contact. Furthermore, while the net-effect of diversity on attitudes via contact is positive, attitudes amongst those experiencing more frequent negative contact become progressively worse. Increasing diversity therefore leads to a polarisation in attitudes towards immigration as a result of, and not due to a lack of, inter-group contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What factors shape European opinion on immigration? Past work has largely pointed to evaluations of various immigrant groups and the cultural, criminal, and/or economic threats they may pose to society, but has overlooked how evaluations of the broader political system matter. Using cross-sectional and panel data from the European Social Survey (ESS), we find that higher levels of political trust are associated with increased public support for allowing a variety of different groups to immigrate, including non-Europeans, Muslims, and Roma. We also find that political trust is positively associated with support for a generous and accommodating refugee policy. We attribute these findings to greater mass confidence in the political system's ability to protect the native population from any perceived immigration-related threats. Overall, these findings suggest that political trust, which is near historic lows, has important implications for understanding public opinion toward immigration, a highly salient issue in contemporary European politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether labor market competition is shaping anti-immigration attitudes is a contentious issue. We conduct a novel test of ethnic competition theory by comparing the attitudes toward immigration of workers with fixed-term contracts to those with permanent jobs in Europe. Fixed-term contract workers are particularly at risk of competition as they have to compete for jobs in the foreseeable future. In the first step of our investigation, we analyze cross-sectional data (European Social Survey, 2002–18) from 18 Western European countries. We find that—contrary to our expectation—fixed-term workers are less anti-immigration. The effect is substantively small. In the second step, we use a fixed-effects design with longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP, 1999–2015) to rule out time-constant unobserved heterogeneity. We find that transitioning from a fixed to a permanent contract does not affect anti-immigration attitudes. Our combined results thus add to the growing body of studies that do not find evidence for labor market competition as an explanation of anti-immigrant attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between police and ethnic minorities has been the subject of increasing interest in many Western societies in recent years. We examine first-generation immigrants' trust in the police in Europe from a comparative and longitudinal perspective. Based on roughly 20,000 immigrants observed in 22 countries over 13 years in the European Social Survey, results show that initially high levels of trust in the police among immigrants tend to erode with the length of their stay in the host country. We show that two simultaneous processes drive this pattern: a fading reference effect (downward assimilation) and an increasing discrimination effect. Cross-national comparisons show that, on average, immigrants in countries with more police trust the police less. However, there is no effect of police size within countries, mostly because police numbers hardly change over time. We discuss implications for future research and policy development based on our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deepens the analysis of the effects of immigration on the vote for Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe, focusing on education levels of both natives and immigrants. By analysing the immigrant population in 101 regions from 11 European countries, we show that in contexts with a large immigrant presence, the low-educated voters tend to support Populist Radical Right Parties to a greater degree than those who are more educated. However, when the ratio of skilled immigrants is high, also the more educated population tends to support these parties. Hence, our analysis adds insight into the relationship between immigration, education and Populist Radical Right Parties voting, highlighting the need of focusing at lower levels of aggregation and combining the characteristics of both foreign-born and host populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: The enlargement of the European Union (EU) and the subsequent global economic recession has drawn attention to individual-level attitudes towards immigrants across Europe. In this context, using the European Social Survey (ESS), we compared Irish attitudes towards immigrants with those in 12 other European countries at 3 critical moments in time – prior to large immigration flows in 2002; at the height of the economic boom in 2006; and after the global financial crash in 2008. Our descriptive analysis examines whether significant changes in attitudes towards immigrants has occurred in the EU as a whole and within individual countries over time. We predicted that fluctuations in economic condition such as the rise in unemployment would affect attitudes towards immigrants. This relationship receives some support from our findings. In Ireland, positive attitudes to immigrants between 2006 and 2010 decreased and negative attitudes increased, on all attitudinal measures, more sharply than in any of the other European countries. Taking the 12 countries as a whole, attitudes have tended to polarise particularly with regard to allowing access to immigrants and their impact on the economy. This research reveals worrying trends in attitudes to immigrants in European countries, particularly in light of the importance of immigrants to the European labour market, both currently and in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innumeracy, that is, the inability to deal with numbers and provide correct estimates about political issues, is reported to be widespread among the public. Yet, despite the recognition that a conspiracy mindset is an increasingly common phenomenon in Western democracies, this has not been considered as a potential correlate of innumeracy. Using data from an online sample of respondents across 10 European countries, we show that those with a higher propensity to hold a conspiracy worldview tend to overestimate the actual share of the immigrant population living in their own country. This association holds true when accounting for country heterogeneity and other cognitive, affective and socio-demographic factors. Employing a comparative design and refined measurements, the article contributes to our understanding of how a conspiracy mentality may influence perceptions of relevant political facts, questioning basic processes of democratic accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout much of Europe, new waves of immigration have raised concerns about cultural fragmentation and disunity, interethnic conflict, and growing antipathy toward immigrants. Our goal is to provide evidence of uneven patterns of immigrant population distribution and residential integration, both within and between countries of the European Union. Our analyses focus on the spatial concentration of the foreign-born population in 27 countries and 1396 sub-regional areal units (called NUTS3), which in turn are nested within larger economic and cultural regions (i.e., NUTS2). Estimates of new forms of multiscale segregation (i.e., using the index of dissimilarity) are calculated from data drawn from Eurostat and a variety of other sources. Descriptive multivariate models of population concentration or macro-segregation center on key economic (i.e., GDP per capita), social (i.e., education), and ecological (i.e., urbanization) predictors of segregation within and between European countries. New forms of spatial segregation are expressed demographically in substantial regional heterogeneity among immigrants throughout Europe. Multivariate analyses indicate that immigrant-native patterns of population concentration and distribution vary widely between and within European countries with very different economies, demographic conditions, and histories of immigration. In almost all European countries, immigrants from outside of Europe are less spatially integrated with the native population than are immigrants from other countries within Europe. Differences in immigrant-native spatial integration are clearly reflected in the large numbers of immigrant regional "hot spots," which are driven by public policy and idiosyncratic political considerations at the national and regional levels. Our comparative approach provides an overview of country-to-country differences in European immigrant settlement patterns and multiscale patterns of integration and segregation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of the characteristics of intergenerational relations within immigrant families in Europe and micro-level social processes shaping those relations is essential from both an academic and a policy perspective. Yet there has been little empirical research devoted to testing the theoretical frameworks underlying intergenerational relations and migration studies and comparing ethnically and culturally different immigrant groups across diverse contexts. The articles featured in this special issue provide new evidence on various aspects of intergenerational relations among European immigrant populations. In this introduction, we briefly review the main and most significant of these findings while comparing them with previous research results. We conclude by identifying a set of relevant research questions that remain unanswered and recommend a roadmap for future research on intergenerational relations among immigrant populations in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on theories of bordering and mediated witnessing to examine a documentary film that mediates migrants' experiences of bordering in Europe. My analysis of Under den samme himmel/Days of Hope shows how the film captures the multiplicity of bordering practices, from geographical to socio-cultural borderings. The analysis is informed by watching and discussing the film in an immigrant detention facility in Finland with people who experienced and eye-witnessed experiences similar to those depicted in the film. This creates a sense of co-presence of the experiential landscapes in the border zones, and the film invites viewers to consider borders not as lines in the landscape, but as zones and as a form of practice that has consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research unequivocally shows that immigrants are less successful in the labour market than the native-born population. However, little is known about whether ethnic inequality persists after retirement. We use data on 16 Western European countries from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC, 2004–2013) to provide the first comparative study of ethnic inequalities among the population aged 65 and older. We focus on the retirement income gap (RIG) between immigrants from non-European Union countries and relate its magnitude to country differences in welfare state arrangements. Ethnic inequality after retirement is substantial: after adjusting for key characteristics including age, education and occupational status, the average immigrant penalty across the 16 countries is 28 per cent for men and 29 per cent for women. Country-level regressions show that income gaps are smaller in countries where the pension system is more redistributive. We also find that easy access to long-term residence is associated with larger RIGs, at least for men. There is no clear evidence that immigrants’ access to social security programmes, welfare state transfers to working-age households or the strictness of employment protection legislation affect the size of the RIG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two models of inclusion of recent immigrants in Western Europe. In the Continental model immigrants are penalized in terms of both probabilities of being employed and job quality. In the Mediterranean one there is a stronger trade-off between a limited risk of unemployment and a lower job quality. Did the recession foster a convergence or a divergence between these two models? This article focuses on this issue and analyses the integration of immigrants in 10 countries, using EU-LFS data (2005–2012) and considering two occupational outcomes: the probability of being employed, and the probability of avoiding the unskilled working class. It also studies the turnover between unemployment and dependent employment. The crisis generated a partial and limited convergence between the two models, involving only male immigrants living in Southern Europe. In these countries immigrants experienced higher risks of unemployment because the crisis diminished their turnover between unemployment and dependent employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature on a variety of countries has documented a "healthy immigrant effect" (HIE). Accordingly, immigrants arriving in the host country are, on average, healthier than comparable natives. However, their health status dissipates with additional years in the country. HIE is explained through the positive self-selection of healthy immigrants as well as the positive selection, screening and discrimination applied by host countries. In this article we study the health trajectories of immigrants within the context of selection and migration policies. Using SHARE data we examine the HIE, comparing Israel and 16 European countries that have fundamentally different migration policies. Israel has virtually unrestricted open gates for Jewish people around the world, who in turn have ideological rather than economic considerations to move. European countries have selective policies with regards to the health, education and wealth of migrants, who also self-select themselves. Our results provide evidence that (1) immigrants who move to Israel have compromised health and are significantly less healthy than comparable natives. Their health disadvantage persists for up to 20 years of living in Israel, after which they become similar to natives; (2) immigrants who move to Europe have significantly better health than comparable natives. Their health advantage remains positive for many years. Even though during some time lapses they are not significantly different from natives, their health status never becomes worse than that of natives. Our results are important for migration policy and relevant for domestic health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research empirically approaches symbolic boundary making in the form of individual assent to selective immigration policy. Distinguishing two such types of boundaries, restriction based on immigrant skills and race/religion, we approach the antecedents of such preferences. Do economic or rather cultural concerns about immigration drive boundary making? We furthermore assess whether social boundaries in the form of integration and multicultural policies are of importance. The results obtained from the European Social Survey show that on the individual level, both forms of boundary making are mainly driven by cultural concerns. On the country level, net of several measures of diversity, integration policies dampen skill-related boundaries, while multicultural policies weaken the strength of cultural boundary making along race and religion. These findings expose the political embeddedness of processes of symbolic boundary making into the very policies that approach the respective type of boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do sub-state nationalists respond to the growing presence of cultural diversity in their ‘homelands’ resulting from migration? Sub-state nationalists in Europe, in ‘nations without states’ such as Catalonia and Scotland, have been challenging the traditional nation-state model for many decades. While the arguments in favour of autonomy or independence levelled by these movements have become more complex, sub-state nationalist movements remain grounded by their perceived national community that is distinct from the majority nation. Migration to the ‘homeland’ of a sub-state nation, then, presents a conundrum for sub-state elites that we label the ‘legitimation paradox’: too much internal diversity may undermine the claim to cultural distinctiveness. We engage with three common intervening variables thought to influence how sub-state nationalists confront the ‘legitimation paradox’: civic/ethnic nationalism, degree of political autonomy, and party competition. Our overarching argument is that none of these factors have a unidirectional or determinate effect on the sub-state nationalism-immigration nexus, which is why the nuanced case studies that comprise this Special Issue are worthwhile endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Immigration is of growing significance to the demographic makeup of Western Europe. A long-standing and highly disputed question is whether a larger number of immigrants are associated with more negative attitudes toward immigration or whether the reverse is true. Previous studies yielded contradictory results on various levels of analysis (national, regional, local). These inconsistencies may partly be linked to what is known as the ‘modifiable areal unit problem’ in spatial analysis. This article seeks to address this issue by analyzing the relationship between the percentage foreign-born and perceived group threat in 15 Western European countries on the national as well as on three differing regional levels (N = 70, 207, and 624 regions, respectively), together with survey data from the European Values Study’s fourth wave. I expect threat effects to operate through national communication systems while contact and habituation to immigrants to work on the regional level. Consistent with theoretical expectations, the results show a positive correlation between the national proportion of immigrants and perceived threat, while the coefficients are negative on the regional level. More immigration might thus lead to a more negative evaluation of the presence of immigrants in European countries, but apparently not within the regions where most of the newcomers reside. Two recent examples illustrate this seemingly paradoxical relationship. As a methodological result, effect size and statistical significance vary with the delimitation of the regional units of analysis (Nomenclature des Unités Territoriales Statistiques (NUTS)-1, -2, or -3). This suggests that research in this field should pay more attention to how and why spatial units are defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article investigates networks and political actions by migrant organisations in five European cities. It examines how political opportunity structures moderate the impact of organisational networks on organisations' political contacts and protests using data from organisational surveys undertaken between 2005 and 2008 in Budapest, Lyon, Madrid, Milan and Zurich. Results suggest that the political context moderates the role that different types of networks have on mobilisation. It is found that migrant organisational networks may be sources compensating for the lack of contextual opportunities, thus fostering the use of protest by migrant organisations. However, migrant organisational networks can also favour the creation of political subcultures, marginalised from mainstream politics. Finally, migrant networks are likely to foster migrant organisations' political integration in multicultural contexts through conventional as well as non-conventional politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]