successful social integration—understood as the removal of all barriers to full participation in the host society—is a key factor for immigrants and their offspring to achieve social, but also political and economic, mobility in their host society.

 

Laurentsyeva, Nadzeya; Venturini, Alessandra (2017) : The Social Integration of Immigrants and the Role of Policy – A Literature Review, Intereconomics, ISSN 1613-964X, Springer, Heidelberg, Vol. 52, Iss. 5, pp. 285-292, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10272-017-0691-6

where social integration can be understood from two perspectives. For immigrants, it means developing a sense of belonging to the host society. This often involves accepting and acting according to that society’s values and norms and, if necessary, building up the social capital that is deemed necessary by the host country’s institutions. The role of the native population is equally important: social integration is only feasible once immigrants are accepted as members of society. Such mutual recognition, apart from improving individual well-being, leads to better social cohesion and has considerable economic implications, from the provision of public goods and redistribution1 to teamwork and productivity in firms.2 Yet, if immigrants and the native population differ in many social and cultural dimensions, social integration poses a challenge

We broadly classify other proxies of social integration into four groups: culture, social participation and inclusion, demographics, and civil and political participation.