Patterns of Social Integration Strategies: Mobilising ‘Strong’ and ‘Weak’ Ties of the New European Migrants

an article by Boris Popivanov (Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria / New Europe Centre for Regional Studies, Bulgaria) and Siyka Kovacheva (New Europe Centre for Regional Studies, Bulgaria / Plovdiv University Paisii Hilendarski, Bulgaria) published in Social Inclusion Volume 7 Number 4 (2019)

Abstract

The European mobility processes raise the issue of the integration strategies of new European migrants in their host societies.

Taking stock of 154 in-depth interviews with migrants in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, we examine the social ties which they mobilise in order to adapt in a different social environment.

The division between ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ ties established in the literature is particularly useful to assess migrants’ experiences in appropriation and transformation of social capital and the variety of their pathways in the labour market.

Then we critically study the relative weight of social ties and skill levels in their choice of integration strategies.

At the end, four types of strategies corresponding to the types of migrants’ interactions with the home and host contexts are outlined.

Full text (PDF 11pp)

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The Impact of Conditionality on the Welfare Rights of EU Migrants in the UK

an article by Peter James Dwyer (University of York, UK), Lisa  Scullion and Katy Jones (University of Salford, UK) and Alasdair Stewart (University of Glasgow, UK) published in Policy & Politics Volume 47 Number 1 (January 2019)

Abstract

This paper highlights and explores how conditionality operating at three levels (the EU supranational level, the UK national level and in migrants' mundane 'street level' encounters with social security administrators), come together to restrict and have a negative impact on the social rights of EU migrants living in the UK.

Presenting analysis of new data generated in repeat qualitative interviews with 49 EU migrants resident in the UK, the paper makes an original contribution to understanding how the conditionality inherent in macro level EU and UK policy has seriously detrimental effects on the everyday lives of individual EU migrants.

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Time and money explain social class differences in students’ social integration at university

an article by Mark Rubin (University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia) and Chrysalis L. Wright (University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA) published in Studies in Higher Education Volume 42 Issue 2 (February 2017)

Abstract

Working-class students tend to be less socially integrated at university than middle-class students. The present research investigated two potential reasons for this working-class social exclusion effect.

First, working-class students may have fewer finances available to participate in social activities.

Second, working-class students tend to be older than middle-class students and, consequently, they are likely to have more work and/or childcare commitments.

These additional commitments may prevent them from attending campus which, in turn, reduces their opportunity for social integration.

These predictions were confirmed among undergraduate students at an Australian university (N = 433) and a US university (N = 416).

Strategies for increasing working-class students' social integration at university are discussed.

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