Das ethnische Paradox und die Integration von Immigranten: Zur Bedeutung von sozialem und symbolischem Kapital in vergleichender Perspektive

In: Peripherie: Politik, Ökonomie, Kultur, Volume 16, Issue 64, p. 70-95

Abstract

The process of immigrant & minority group integration into modern Western societies has been characterized by a paradoxical development: immigrants have tended to establish their own organizations & networks outside majority culture, but these parallel bodies do not seem to inhibit integration. Based on a schematic model of immigrant minorities & national majorities, the thesis is formulated that immigrants networks that confirm the collective minority identity are a necessary condition for further integration; ie, integration & segregation are interactive forces. Moderated by factors regarding the function of the immigrant group, the importance of social & symbolic capital, & the institutional framework of the country, the thesis is tested in a comparative study of resources available to immigrant groups in the US & Federal Republic of Germany. It is found that strong social & symbolic ties are a necessary condition for integration; where these are absent, ghettos can result (eg, black underclasses in the US). It is further found that networks based not on cultural, but on religious, ties may inhibit integration (eg, Islamic groups in Germany). 1 Figure, 51 References. Adapted from the source document.