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The paper departs from the observation that the role of migrant organisations (MOs) in Germany has changed significantly since the strong influx of refugees in 2015/16. As a result of this specific historical situation, it seems that MOs were able to strengthen their position as important civil society and integration policy actors and reduce reservations about them. While there has been growing attention on MOs' civic and social contributions, both in public and academic debates, this article also highlights the risks of failure and inflated expectations and the often rather fragile structures of MOs. Thus, the article aims to broaden the view on MOs by focusing on aspects which have been neglected in the course of recent public and academic interest and rather optimistic perceptions. The methodological approach is one of "embedded research": the author has been a senior executive of one of the largest German MOs for six years and, at the same time, a migration researcher for many years. From this special inside/outside view, an ambivalent picture emerges: despite a significantly greater appreciation of the achievements of MOs and much verbal recognition, there is a clear lack of the necessary material/structural support, jeopardising the sustainability and viability of many MOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the racial discourse in the Afro-diaspora group in Germany. It uses the 'discourse-historical approach' – a strand of Critical Discourse Analysis – for the three-dimensional analysis of language biographical data of 67 African migrants in Germany. The study provides African migrants' accounts of racism, identifies four discursive strategies, and then examines the semantics of a counter-racialisation term developed to cope with racism. The study finds Afro-diaspora racial discourse as a site for confronting the racism problem, legitimising the race idea, and contingent on migrants' access to material resources in Germany. Furthermore, the term 'fake-oyinbo' indicates an ability to use simple linguistic terms in an intended way of racial categorisation within race relations thinking. The paper concludes that Afro-diasporans' racial discourse is a 'grassroots' minority discourse revealing a counter-racialisation linguistic action while explaining and justifying the condition of the ordinary black minority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analysing the childcaring experiences of female skilled workers from South Korea (hereafter, Korea) in Germany, this paper maintains that the challenges in labour market participation for highly skilled women, and especially those with children, should be understood in the context of their encounters with similar and different care and employment regimes between their home and host countries. On the theoretical level, this research confirms the argument that the migration of highly skilled workers should be contextualized not from a neoclassical perspective in which the maximization of economic profits takes priority, but from an institutional point of view in which social and cultural norms, practices, and policies in both the home and host societies are taken into consideration. Specifically, through a series of in-depth interviews conducted with skilled female migrants from Korea, this paper highlights the significance of taking the function of similar and different caring and employment regimes into account in explaining the challenges faced by highly skilled migrant women in labour market participation. On the empirical level, this paper sheds light on the migration experiences of skilled women from Asia as well as the (dis)integration processes of newcomers from third-national countries in Germany, with a focus on female migrants from Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the use of photo ranking exercises together with qualitative interview data to study migrants' perception of social status. It draws on data from a mixed-method study, involving in-depth interviews with migrants from different socio-economic backgrounds and mobility experiences in Germany. The paper focuses on how photo ranking exercises can be combined with more traditional interviewing techniques in order to elicit peoples' subjective perceptions of status mobility in transnational spaces. It demonstrates that ranking exercises can be helpful in the effort to design data collection methods which are combining substantialist and relational approaches to the study of social class and social positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We causally analyse the link between immigrants and crime in Germany for 2008–2019. • The effect is positive for the early sub-period and negative or insignificant for the later one. • When analyzing the total period, the estimates average out to zero. • We study the composition of the migrant group. • The type of residence permit plays an important role. The paper empirically analyses the causal relationship between immigrants and crime using data for German administrative districts between 2008 and 2019. Before the refugee crisis (2008–2014), an increase in the current share of immigrants increased the total crime rate. In contrast, the effect was negative (or insignificant) during and after the refugee crisis (2015–2019). When analysing the total period, the estimates average out to zero. Studying more closely the composition of the migrant group, a plausible explanation of the negative (or insignificant) effect of immigrants on crime in the later period is related to a larger share of migrants with a less certain residence status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Given the increasing academic interest in older migrants, this study aims at examining the likelihood of establishing contact and cooperation in a survey among first-generation migrants in Germany, comparing migrants of age 50 and older with younger migrants (aged 16–49). Research Design and Methods We analyze data from the Migrants' Welfare State Attitudes (MIFARE) study collected in Germany, which contains information about first-generation migrants from 9 different origin groups living in private households. Potential survey participants were contacted via mail and invited to participate in a paper- or online-based survey. In addition, an incentive experiment was implemented and age-dependent response rates were analyzed. Using logistic regression analyses, we compare older and younger migrants with regard to their likelihood of contact, cooperation, reaction to incentives, and mode choice. Results Within the MIFARE study, older migrants are more likely to be contacted than younger ones. Older migrants are also more likely to cooperate in survey research than younger migrants. Both groups respond equally positively to the use of unconditional incentives. Lastly, older migrants show a strong preference to fill out the questionnaire on paper, rather than online. Discussion and Implications Older first-generation migrants living in private households are easier to contact and are more likely to cooperate in survey research than younger first-generation migrants. Offering unconditional incentives and surveys on paper are likely to increase response rates among older migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though it is a global phenomenon, migration results in a variety of local outcomes. Depending on migrants' specific arrival contexts, countries of origin and migration motives, they are channelled into different categories. As a result, they encounter unequal access to different domains at the local level. This paper analyses how young migrants in vulnerable conditions are able to access and use local or localised resources and to what extend these resources enable them to overcome structural barriers over time. Our analysis builds on empirical findings from a case study in Dortmund, Germany, conducted through the EU-funded MIMY project. Drawing on narrative interviews with young refugees (aged 18–29), it highlights three specific cases where temporal and spatial factors shape individual integration pathways. The narratives highlight the barriers encountered by young refugees, most of which are related to migrant policy categories implemented at national or supra-national levels. In the arrival context, the young migrants are able—to varying degrees—to mobilise localised resources helping them overcome (at least partially) such mainly structural barriers. Focusing on the emergence and evolution of local integration landscapes thus reveals the importance of time and the difference time makes in terms of the availability of resources and legal frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants, or people who are read as such, face unequal participation opportunities. This is mainly due to poor host country language skills, inexperience with and barriers within administrative processes. Especially in cities beyond metropolises, scepticism through inexperience regarding immigration reinforces inequality. Although immigration to smaller cities is increasing, studies regarding this remain scarce. The goal of this paper is to examine spatial-structural conditions of participation opportunities for immigrants in medium-sized cities (MSC) and thus develop a basis for further research to address the particular challenges for immigrants in MSC. Therefore, I question the spatial patterns and characteristics of immigrants’ participation opportunities in MSC. Cluster analysis and mapping methods are used to analyse data relevant to societal participation at the municipal level with reference to immigration. The data refer to MSC in Germany, a country that plays a significant role for immigration in Europe. Six clusters with different levels of participation opportunities emerge. One of the main results are the regional disparities between the former FRG (West Germany) and the former GDR (East Germany) expected under hypothesis 1. Almost all MSC in the former GDR can be assigned to the cluster with the greatest challenges for immigrants’ participation. At the same time, according to hypothesis 2, other regional differences can be identified, which are manifested by political-administrative boundaries, but also extend beyond them. Rural areas do not necessarily offer worse conditions for immigrants’ participation than dense regions. However, the mapping shows two participation ‘belts’ in the southwest between the large cities Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart and in the central northwest between the Ruhr region and Hanover. The two belts contain a large number of strong MSC with good framework conditions for immigrant’s participation. Especially in the ‘arrival’ belt between Frankfurt am Main and Stuttgart it covers MSC of widely varying sizes. Hypothesis 3 illustrates how local peculiarities also in the former GDR allow contrary developments and show the importance of further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the birth date on state documents is proposed as an unambiguous marker of IDentity, the age assessment of migrants into Germany reveals a contested and black-boxed practice behind the seemingly neutral numbers. This is a practice of contested bureaucratic and scientific decision-making turned into a stable truth. This article examines this process by drawing on ethnographic research into forensic practices assessing migrants' ages in Hamburg, Germany. Ultimately, a migrant's assessed age has crucial consequences for their identity, rights and possibilities. Through a study of the technologies of assessment, this paper shows that the making of age IDentity is relational and ambiguous, and not a truth that is fixed in one's body as 'biological age'. This challenges one of the promises of biometrics, an ability to measure 'the body' objectively. Rather, the paper proposes that what that body precisely is is an outcome of a specific practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish financial crisis (2008–2014) provided a frequent topic for Spanish film at approximately the same period that the hit Ocho apellidos vascos signalled a turn to ethnic humour in Spanish film and television. This paper analyses the banal nationalism of two mainstream audiovisual comedies capitalizing on both trends: the movie Perdiendo el norte (2015) and television series Buscando el norte (2016), both directed by Nacho García Velilla. The film and the series both portray the plight of economic migrants from Spain to Germany. However, rather than take up the indignados' protest, they delight in Spanish difference while lamenting the country's secondary status vis-à-vis a wealthy Europe embodied by Germany, naturalizing the existence of a Spanish nation with certain ethnic traits and glossing over Spain's lack of internal unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender inequality in the division of household chores is a persistent issue over time and across country contexts, while differences within and between native and migrant couples remain largely unclear. Relying on the German country case, this study examines the association between partners' migration constellations and the division of housework. We differentiate between natives and first-generation migrants, and within first-generation migrants, we differentiate by their regions of origin. For the division of housework, we analyse traditionally female routine tasks and male non-routine tasks. Following gender and resource explanations, this study expects gendered variation in the way native, migrant, and mixed (i.e., native/migrant) couples divide housework. Utilising novel data from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA-GGS sample, 2021), the paper employs OLS regression models to predict the division of housework among 11,223 cohabiting different-sex couples. The study finds a gender-traditional divide in routine household tasks among migrant couples, with heterogeneity across regions of origin. Specifically, women in Asian and Eastern European couples tend to do more routine tasks than their native counterparts, while the division of routine housework in couples from Western countries is more egalitarian. In mixed couples, the division of routine tasks is highly unequal if the male partner is a migrant. Non-routine tasks in mixed couples are, however, mostly performed by the native partner, irrespective of gender. The results suggest that the division of routine housework conforms to traditional gender roles across most migrant groups, while non-routine housework, such as financial tasks that require country-specific knowledge, is influenced by the native status, which serves as a resource in itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the multiple ways in which visits affect the understanding of home for the Turkish–German second generation who have relocated to Turkey. Based on thematic–narrative analysis of 116 life‐story interviews with second‐generation 'returnees' in five regions of Turkey, three types of visits are identified: (i) family visits to Turkey whilst growing up in Germany; (ii) visits to Germany after the second generation has 'returned' to Turkey; (iii) visits to Turkey by the second generation's Germany‐residing relatives and friends. Each type has different meanings for the visitors and the visited, creating fluid reflections on the meaning of home, which, especially for the second‐generation 'returnees', tends to become fractured. Constantly comparing their two home(‐land)s since childhood, they often simultaneously feel both 'here' and 'there' as a result of changing attachments and a mix of positive and negative experiences in both locales with their families, friends and the dominant others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the effects of perceived discrimination on the self-rated health of immigrants living in Germany. Previous research indicates that immigrants' health is negatively affected by the psychosocial strain caused by perceived discrimination. I analyse whether feelings of belonging to both the origin and the host country play a moderating role in this association: While feelings of belonging to the origin country might buffer the health threat of perceived discrimination, a strong sense of belonging to the host country might exacerbate it because it increases immigrants' sensitivity and vulnerability to discrimination by the majority society. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel Study (N = 10,412), I confirm previous research on the harmful effect of perceived discrimination on health. While feelings of belonging to the origin country are not a protective factor, the health threat of perceived discrimination indeed exacerbates with an increasing sense of belonging to the host country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the policies for migrant economies as part of broader social and labor market in Germany. It points out that the current fragmented and contradictory policy action can be identified as an outcome of former ambiguities and the delegation of responsibilities within a complex governance grid. Accordingly, its focus is on the inter-related dynamics of policy interventions, knowledge production and the impact of migrant agency within cities. The paper gives a condensed overview on theory and background of migrant economies, pointing to de facto barriers that persist until today. It then concentrates on the way labor market policies in respect of migration were framed in public discourse. Its empirical focus is on the web of policies and instruments that have been directed towards migrant entrepreneurship. Here, in-built ambiguities of all actions are identified as a general feature of German labor market policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Immigrant German Election Study (IMGES) as the first survey that explicitly targeted immigrant-origin voters in Germany. IMGES fills the gap of insufficient data in the field of immigrant-origin voters with a combination of proven and novel survey measures of the electoral behavior of people with a background from either Türkiye or from the former Soviet Union or its successor states. The study was carried out in a post-election, cross-sectional survey in 2017. Its compatibility with the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), the Ethnic Minority British Election Study (EMBES), and the Dutch Ethnic Minority Election Study (DEMES) allows for in-depth comparative analyses between immigrant-origin voters and natives across different countries. In addition to standard measures of electoral behavior, the data include measures of immigrant-specific factors relevant to voting behavior. Moreover, the dataset is not limited to voting behavior in Germany, it also includes transnational voting behavior in the respective countries of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines migration experience and migrant solidarity within a differential migration system. The paper unfolds how Hungarians living in Germany have become involved in refugee support (either in form of voluntary or paid work), and how their engagement relates to their own experience of migration. Concerning applied methods the paper is based on a quantitative online survey and qualitative interviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address gender differences in the host language proficiency of humanitarian migrants. Prior research has produced inconclusive results with regard to women's host language proficiency relative to that of men: sometimes women's proficiency exceeds that of men, sometimes women lag behind men, and sometimes there are no substantial differences. Using data on recent humanitarian migrants in Germany, we investigate factors contributing to similarities and differences in men's and women's language proficiency. We consider gender differences with respect to the family-related factors: marital status, children's ages and children's childcare situations are important for women but not for men. These findings point to the continued relevance of a gendered division of work. It also becomes clear that gendered role expectations are particularly consequential for mothers and wives. Moreover, we find evidence that women are more efficient learners than men are, while they have fewer learning opportunities than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015 and 2016, the enormous increase in asylum seekers travelling along the Balkan Route confronted the Member States of the European Union with an exceptional pressure on national asylum systems. Since then academic literature has revealed a reappraisal of the Common European Asylum System at regulative and policy implementation level, notably regarding the fair distribution of asylum seekers across Member States and regions. Yet we know very little about the locational choices of forced migrants or how those choices evolved and transformed during their journey. In this paper, we aim to shed light on those decision-making processes and (individual, subjective) locational choices based on the aspiration-ability model, drawing from a series of qualitative interviews with migrants held in Luxembourg and Germany in the context of the H2020 project CEASEVAL. We focus on the migrants' journeys to their actual recipient countries, highlighting mobility trajectories from the moment of first departure and on the process of decision-making regarding their choice of location. Then, we examine further mobility aspirations, which may lead to secondary mobility within or out of the country of residence. In the concluding section, we discuss the consequences of our findings for migration and asylum politics against the background of the "autonomy of migration" framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has highly valued the contribution of migrant economies to the development of mainly top‐scale metropolises. Migrant economies are considered a crucial asset when it comes to positioning cities internationally, revitalising neighbourhoods and generally securing the social, economic and political inclusion of migrants. Nevertheless, there is a major research gap in empirical evidence on migrant economies beyond metropolitan cities and the impact of the local context on the development of migrant economies in these localities. In order to tackle this blind spot, this paper examines how the local context fosters or hinders the development of migrant economies in two low‐scale German cities. The paper conceptualises 'local context' as comprising economic, political and socio‐cultural factors. In sum, it finds the local conditions less conducive to the development of migrant economies in the cities under scrutiny, for example, because these economies are not an urban policy issue there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ageing well has been associated with the responsibility to age actively, successfully, or healthily in public and research discourses. This connection of individual responsibility with ageing has been criticised in Social Gerontology for neglecting the access to social, economic, and health resources. This paper investigates (individual) responsibility, informal support, and public initiatives in discourses on older immigrants in Germany. The research framework employs a sociology of knowledge approach to discourse, which guided the discourse analysis of German policy reports, guidelines and handbooks on ageing and migration from 2000 to 2019 (43 documents in total). The results reveal that besides public initiatives concerning long-term care, health promotion, and social services, informal solutions through social networks are frequently emphasised in the data. The focus, thereby, is on long-term care, which is presented as a responsibility of the extended family. Thus, resources are situated in the family, social networks, and ethnic group, which should be opened and connected with public services; however, the focus is shifting from older immigrants towards local municipalities. This study provides a discourse perspective on the construction of resources and challenges for older immigrants concerning health, care, and social services and offers an assessment of the cultural and integrating/excluding qualities in active ageing discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using three waves of the Germany's individual-level panel data, this paper analyses whether there are any changes in the trust levels of East German migrants who move to the former Western German regions after the reunification. The results demonstrate that the duration of living in the West is positively associated with East German migrants' trust and that the labour market is the possible channel through which social trust is fostered. This finding suggests that trust is moulded through contemporaneous shocks or experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using three waves of the Germany's individual-level panel data, this paper analyses whether there are any changes in the trust levels of East German migrants who move to the former Western German regions after the reunification. The results demonstrate that the duration of living in the West is positively associated with East German migrants' trust and that the labour market is the possible channel through which social trust is fostered. This finding suggests that trust is moulded through contemporaneous shocks or experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to solving the following research puzzle: When the influx of refugees from Syria and elsewhere to Germany significantly increased, German society and politics seemed to be rather robust in the face of xenophobic and right-wing populist movements; however, only 2years later, the Alternative fűr Deutschland made it into the Bundestag , and in late 2018 Chancellor Angela Merkel could solve a governmental crisis triggered by the 'refugee crisis' only by announcing her stepwise withdrawal from political offices. The making of the 'refugee crisis' was facilitated by a securitization policy. On three crucial cases of domestic politics — security, socio-economics, and socio-cultural politics — it is shown that right-wing populism proved to be capable of dominating the political agenda as it came up with argumentation figures that were — though not hegemonic — also prominent among leading politicians on the whole political spectrum in Germany from the right to the left. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the determinants of interethnic relationships between non-migrants and migrants in Germany. A large body of literature documents that such relationships generate positive outcomes for individual migrants as well as non-migrants and the social cohesion of host-societies at large. Previous research tends to focus on the migrant side, thereby neglecting the factors enabling non-migrants' interethnic relationships. Moreover, the existing research on non-migrants exclusively uses cross-sectional data for causal inferences. In contrast, this paper draws on longitudinal data, thus providing a more comprehensive and empirically rigorous picture of the determinants of interethnic relationships. The paper identifies possible determinants of non-migrants' interethnic relationships, combining them into a single analytical framework that allows for gauging their relative importance. Moderately high migrant shares in the neighbourhood are found to be connected to more interethnic relationships, while a higher share of foreigners in the wider region only has a positive effect for the employed. Neither employment status nor migrant share at work are found to be connected to non-migrants' interethnic relationships. Finally, persons feeling threatened by immigration and migrants are largely found to be less likely to have interethnic relationships, while sympathy with migrants works in the opposite direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since European Union (EU) enlargement in 2003, labour migration from East to West and South to North has increased. It is to be expected that a share of these workers will want to retire in their host countries. According to the academic literature, EU legislation protects such mobility well by allowing the transfer of rights accrued in any EU country to another. However, such research has focused on legislation, not outcomes. We know little about how migration will affect the financial status of retired migrants in their host country and their ability to sustain a life there, should they stay after retirement. Using migration, wage and pension policy data (Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), this paper projects the post-retirement incomes of a range of hypothetical EU migrants, selected in relation to the most common migratory flows since 2003. After having worked in their home countries (Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy) for at least ten years, these people move to richer countries (Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom) and work there for at least 30 years. To determine whether they can remain settled after decades of labour force participation in the host country, the paper adds their pension entitlements from home and host countries and compares this income with the relative poverty line of the host countries. This shows that good portability of entitlements matters little when these are very low because of a large wage gap between home and host country. Thus, after at least 30 years of enjoying all citizenship rights as workers, most of these individuals are projected to receive incomes below the relative poverty line of their host countries and thus experience a sharp drop in this status. Their citizenship is diminished. The paper concludes by considering policies that could avoid such an outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses relations between Polish immigrant organisations and institutions of the Polish and German states as well as the impact of these relations on how such organisations function. According to empirical research, Polish immigrant organisations have limited contact or co-operation with the institutions of the German state and have far greater relations with Polish diplomatic missions. The reasons for that may lie within specific attitudes held by all three parties. Polish immigrant organisations seem to be passive in relation to the rather reactive institutions of the German state while, at the same time, the institutions of the Polish state actively support the Polish diaspora organisations. Such a state of affairs can exert a negative impact on the organisations, especially with regard to their financial situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores trade union strategies to protect wages in the face of EU migration after the enlargement of the European Union. We argue that unions have three instruments at their disposal to deal with the risks linked to downward wage pressure: closure through immigration control, equalisation through collective bargaining and minimum wages, and the organisation of migrant workers. Using comparative case studies of Sweden, Germany and the UK, we show how different types of power resources shape union strategies: unions with substantial organisational resources (in Sweden) relied on a large membership to pursue an equalisation strategy and expected to be able to 'afford' openness. German unions with low membership but access to the political system pushed for a mix of closure and equality drawing on political intervention (e.g. minimum wages). British unions, unable to pursue either, focused their efforts on organisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I investigate intergenerational transmission in religiosity among immigrants and natives, comparing families affiliating with Christianity, Islam or any other religious denomination in Germany. Thereby, I focus on the role of transmission opportunities and perceived benefits of religious transmission within and outside the family on the chance of successfully passing on religious attachment from parents to children. Furthermore, I investigate whether these factors contribute to explain group differences in the intergenerational transmission in religiosity. Using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), my empirical results show that family characteristics and everyday interactions influence the strength of intergenerational secularisation, but they can only partly account for differences in divergent transmission patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While climate change has become a salient political and social issue in Western societies, we know relatively little about how these societies will react to one of the potentially important consequences of climate change: increasing migration flows. By means of a representative online survey in Germany, this paper therefore investigates for the very first time to what extent citizens in industrialized societies are willing to accept climate change migrants, especially in comparison with other groups of migrants and refugees, and the circumstances and principles under which they would accept them. The findings show that climate change migrants receive high support levels comparable with those enjoyed by political refugees (migrants who need special protection) and that contrast with attitudes towards economic migrants (who are often not seen as in need of special protection). We also see that people are more likely to accept justifications for taking climate change migrants when they realize that the expected number of migrants is relatively low. While arguments about morality, corrective justice, and a country's capacity lead to similar acceptance rates in general, the latter argument plays a more important role for highly educated people and non-environmentalists than the former two. The findings of this study allow us to better prepare for potential conflicts that might emerge with increasing migration flows caused by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current paper presents three studies, which suggest that perceiving one's nation as transgenerational (TG) is related to a differentiation in the evaluation of ethnically German diaspora migrants and ethnically non-German ('foreign') migrants. First, we find that unlike 'classical' concepts such as right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and hierarchic self-interest (HSI), TG explains differences in derogatory sentiments expressed towards diaspora and 'foreign' migrants. Second, TG is differentially related to positive emotions and behavioral intentions expressed towards these two groups of migrants. Lastly, results indicate that people who perceive the ingroup as TG require 'foreign' migrants to fulfill more criteria that make them eligible for citizenship and are thereby more exclusionist than people who include only the current generation into their concept of national identity. The social implications of these findings in face of the so-called refugee crisis in Germany and the wider European Union are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We study the impact of a large and sudden migrant inflow — the arrival of one million asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in Germany — on indicators of social cohesion in the host country. • The analysis compares places with large versus small inflows of asylum seekers, relative to before the inflow. • We find no significant effect of the inflow on general indicators of social cohesion such as trust or perceived fairness. • The inflow led to an increase in anti-immigrant violence but had no strong effect on individual indicators of social cohesion. A commonly expressed concern about immigration is that it undermines social cohesion in the receiving country. In this paper, we study the impact of a large and sudden inflow of asylum seekers on several indicators of social cohesion. In 2015/16, over one million asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere arrived in Germany. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this inflow changed the public opinion on hosting asylum seekers, from being highly welcoming to fairly negative within a few months. Using individual- and county-level panel data, we test whether the evidence supports this apparent shift in attitudes. In a difference-in-differences design, we compare the attitudes of individuals in areas with large vs. small local inflows before and after the inflow. In individual survey data, we find mixed evidence of an impact on social cohesion. In a representative sample, we find no evidence that the inflow undermined social cohesion, except for a negative effect on donations to charity. In areas with high vote shares for the populist party AfD, we find that the inflow led to greater anti-immigrant sentiment and a greater concern about crime. We also show that areas with larger increases in the number of asylum seekers experienced a significant increase in anti-immigrant violence, which lasted for about two years before returning to its pre-inflow level. This effect was larger in areas with higher unemployment and greater support for AfD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of regional ethnic concentration on the language proficiency and language use of immigrants. It solves the endogeneity of immigrants’ location choices by exploiting a peculiar episode of the German immigration history: the exogenous placement of guest-workers after WWII, one of the largest guest-worker programs on record. The econometric approach accounts for several sources of measurement error and provides a falsification exercise that hypothetically relocates the most language proficient immigrants into ethnic enclaves to test the extent of cross-regional sorting necessary to render the results purely spurious. The results show a robust negative effect of ethnic concentration on immigrants’ language ability which is driven by differences in contact rates with natives and not by differences in the willingness to integrate. The paper discusses these findings against the background of a language production function and in the light of feasible policy options to foster the language acquisition of immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on migrants' religious movements generally see them as backward and conservative movements that are resistant to change. On the contrary, this paper shows that transnational religious movements are shaped by interactions between origin and destination places' political, legal and social structures, and may take different pathways across time and place. Analysing the development of the Alevi diaspora movement in Germany and the recent efforts to establish the World Alevi Union, the article argues that both the (old and new) states and the (old and new) societies they live in, as well as broader paradigm changes and their agency have a direct influence on the ways migrants' daily life practices alter in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How receiving society members perceive and respond to immigration are crucial factors that shape the context of reception for immigrants coming to a new country. In this paper, we examine these processes through the lens of intergroup contact research, with a focus on relations between immigrants and members of receiving societies, to discern ways in which receiving societies are or are not welcoming toward immigrants. Reviewing recent theorizing with illustrative empirical studies and ongoing programs of research that focus on new immigrants in Germany and the United States, we describe how direct and indirect forms of positive and negative contact can serve either to facilitate or inhibit positive immigrant‐receiving community relations. We also discuss factors that may contribute to the emergence of positive and negative contact experiences between immigrants and receiving society members. We close with a discussion of policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volunteering is an under-studied yet potentially beneficial avenue for immigrant integration. Whereas past research has provided important insights into the benefits of immigrant volunteering, it has been frequently based on convenience samples. This paper contributes to the literature on immigrant volunteering on two levels. First, we test less explored questions: the differences between immigrant and native-born volunteers on several volunteer indicators, and the contextual factors (cultural, social, and organisational) associated with immigrants’ proclivity to volunteer. Second, we rely on a representative sample of the German population, and use propensity score matching to strengthen the robustness of our analysis. Findings suggest that, although native-born individuals display higher rates of volunteering than immigrants, they do not significantly differ on most indicators once immigrants become volunteers. Furthermore, time since migration, social networks and organisational membership are significant drivers of immigrant volunteering. Our findings are a signal for policymakers because social policies could better address contextual and organisational barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role that cultural centres played in the integration of guest workers into the city of Stuttgart, Germany. It argues that the centres were initially used as instruments of social control, but after the mid-1960s, as local authorities increasingly envisioned the guest workers as a permanent part of West German society, the focus of the centres was on the integration of guest workers, particularly the ‘second generation’, into not just the economic, but also the social and civic life of Stuttgart and to further cultural understanding between them and West Germans. Furthermore, the paper shows that the centres acted as spaces in which the guest workers themselves could advance their own interests within Stuttgart and many times were sites where they acted out ethnic and political conflicts from their homelands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the determinants of return migration as foreign-born men approach old age in Germany. Return migration in later life engages a different set of conditions from return migration earlier on, including the framing of return as a possible retirement strategy. Using 23 years of longitudinal data from the German Socioeconomic Panel, this paper investigates how social and economic resources of immigrant men influence decisions to return 'home.' Results suggest that immigrants from former guest worker recruitment countries within the European Union are more likely to return than non- EU immigrants. In addition, return migrants are 'negatively selected' so that those with the least education and weakest attachments to the labor force are more likely to emigrate. However, findings vary greatly depending on the immigrant's age and country of origin. Results from this paper highlight the heterogeneity of older immigrants and the factors that motivate their return 'home'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) 1993–2006 as well as longitudinal modelling techniques, the present paper contributes to the growing body of literature on ethnic identity and its effects on immigrants' social integration by examining the role of various forms of labour immigrants' ethnic sense of belonging and cognitive involvement in politics. Theoretically, the paper draws on interdisciplinary integration models, social psychological theories of social identity as well as theoretical frameworks that delineate the politicisation of collective identity and especially the role of dual identification. Applying ‘hybrid’ models that combine the virtues of both fixed and random effects models, the statistical analysis confirms that dual identification—immigrant's identification with both the ethnic in-group and the national community simultaneously—is positively related to labour immigrants' political interest, conditional on the perception of discrimination on behalf of the ethnic origin. Secondly, the longitudinal analyses show some indication that the effect is more pronounced among Turkish immigrants as well as that the mechanisms behind the cognitive politicising process of ethnic identity types differ by ethnic group. In summary, the paper recognizes the value of a multiple-, instead of a one-sided inclusion in emotional terms for Immigrants' cognitive political involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines how middle-aged and older post-Soviet immigrants in eastern Berlin navigate the neoliberalized landscape of work-based integration in face of their long-term unemployment. I first show how these immigrants' own insistence on the centrality of paid work for their feeling integrated contributes to their experience of collective despondency and enrollment in exploitative quasi-markets, including workfare. Focusing on this insistence, I examine how it draws strength primarily from their continued subscription to the conceptions of self as deeply socially embedded, and of work as a practice of such an embedding, adopted through their Soviet-era socialization into the culture of dispersed personhood and obligation to work, rather than from their adoption of neoliberal concepts of citizenship in Germany. Contributing to geographies of post-socialist experience of neoliberalized regimes of citizenship and immigrant integration, this paper thus highlights how some of the aspects of post-socialist subjectivities dovetail unexpectedly with the neoliberal project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the determinants of remittance behavior relying on a dataset of migrants living in the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States who remit to Ghana and Nigeria. Controlling for endogeneity of several independent variables, the model measures the effects on the amount sent of the following variables: Home Country (Ghana or Nigeria), Host Country (United States, United Kingdom or Germany), Remittance Fees, Relationship to the Receiver, Purpose of Remittance, Financial Obligations in the Host Country, and Demographics. The results indicate that remittances are primarily influenced by the purpose of the remittance and from where the remittance is sent. It appears that different generations chose to migrate to different countries, creating differences in income, education and age. These differences along with financial obligations in the host country contribute to higher remittance levels. In regards to the development affects, the results of this paper hint that altruistic reasons for remitting may be associated with higher levels of remittances, while more self-interested reasons for remitting are associated with lower levels of remittances. These results indicate that it may be difficult to design policies to encourage the use of remittances for development purposes, as remittances are primarily used for basic needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores immigrants' transnational mobility in Germany. It uses data of the Socio-Economic Panel Study and four indicators regarding frequency, length, and total duration of visits to the country of origin. The study applies factor mixture analyses in order to investigate whether (a) the observed indicators refer to a uniform underlying construct of transnational mobility and (b) the relationship between the latent construct and the observed indicators establishes in a uniform manner for all respondents. The most reliable model distinguishes three latent classes of immigrants, thus indicating no uniform underlying construct of transnational mobility. Theoretically consistent findings could be derived for about 58 % of the 4019 respondents. However, the relation between the observed indicators and the latent variable diverges substantially for the remaining 42 %. Thus, the findings indicate that the commonly applied indicator of return visits largely fails to assess transnational mobility. Rather, different groups of immigrants engage very diversely in visits to the country of origin. The findings stimulate a variety of conceptual problems future theoretical and empirical research needs to tackle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose International empirical evidence suggests that immigrants have a significantly higher risk than their native counterparts of being on welfare due to their observed characteristics. Nevertheless, it remains unclear if immigrants are also more prone to take-up benefits, conditional on being eligible. The authors explicitly focus on this potential explanation for higher welfare take-up rates. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the take-up of social assistance in Germany by immigrants and natives, conditional on being eligible, and hence focus on take-up behavior rather than on determinants of eligibility.Design/methodology/approach To simulate welfare entitlements, the authors employ a Tax-Transfer Microsimulation Model. It is a static microsimulation model that consists of a detailed implementation of the German tax and transfer system as well as an econometrically estimated labor supply model. After the simulation of welfare entitlements, the authors analyze take-up behavior within a discrete choice framework. The authors estimate probit models of observed welfare benefit take-up for the sample of eligible households taking into account unobserved heterogeneity.Findings The estimation results do not reveal a significant effect of being a migrant on the probability of taking-up entitlements. The authors found a significant negative effect for citizens from European countries on the take-up probability, which disappeared after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity.Research limitations/implications The authors find that it is worthwhile to focus on different groups of immigrants. Although not statistically significant, the rates of non-take-up of welfare benefits differ between different immigrant groups. The analysis further shows that controlling for unobserved heterogeneity is important when analyzing welfare differences between immigrants and natives.Practical implications The higher welfare rates of immigrants are explained mainly by their higher risk of welfare dependence. Thus, given that reducing the welfare dependence of immigrants is a political goal, social policy measures to improve welfare recipients’ labor market prospects are contested. However, restricting eligibility rules to reduce entitlements does not seem to be the appropriate measure, because the take-up probability does not differ between immigrants and natives after controlling for individual characteristics.Originality/value The authors build on Castronova et al. (2001) and analyze the take-up behavior of individuals who are entitled to basic means-tested welfare benefits for employable persons in Germany. The analysis differs from Castronova et al. (2001) in four points. First, the authors provide first evidence of immigrant-native differences in welfare benefit take-up under the new welfare system in Germany after its reorganization in 2005. Second, the authors apply a microsimulation model of the comlete tax and transfer system in Germany to determine welfare eligibility. Third, the authors extend the analysis to a panel framework and take into account individual unobserved heterogeneity. Fourth, the authors distinguish between different groups of immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews seasonal migration from Poland to Germany from the perspective of gender. The main lenses used are the participation in this migration by individuals as members of families, the informal recruitment mechanisms that bring new migrants on board, and the legal environment. The paper argues that the selection of a migrant by the family depends importantly on the costs of migration for the family, and shows how this consideration bears on the choice of women as seasonal migrants. In addition, the paper argues that the patterns of recruitment are gender-specific, explains why women recruit new migrants in a manner which differs from that of men, and assesses the impact of the underlying legal environment on the differential participation of women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]