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Growing up in Diverse Societies: The Integration of the Children of Immigrants in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden

Online ISBN:
9780191879562
Print ISBN:
9780197266373
Publisher:
British Academy
Book

Growing up in Diverse Societies: The Integration of the Children of Immigrants in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden

Frank Kalter (ed.),
Frank Kalter
(ed.)

Professor of Sociology

Professor of Sociology, University of Mannheim
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Jan O. Jonsson (ed.),
Jan O. Jonsson
(ed.)

University of Oxford and Stockholm University

University of Oxford and Stockholm University, Fellow of Nuffield College & Professor of Sociology
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Frank van Tubergen (ed.),
Frank van Tubergen
(ed.)

Professor of Sociology

Professor of Sociology, Utrecht University
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Anthony Heath (ed.)
Anthony Heath
(ed.)

University of Oxford

University of Oxford, Emeritus Fellow of Nuffield College
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Published online:
23 May 2019
Published in print:
4 October 2018
Online ISBN:
9780191879562
Print ISBN:
9780197266373
Publisher:
British Academy

Abstract

Growing up in Diverse Societies provides a comprehensive analysis of the integration of the children of immigrants in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, based on the ‘Children of immigrants longitudinal survey in four European countries’ (CILS4EU), including harmonised interviews with almost 19,000 14- to 15-year-olds. The book studies the life situation, social relations, and attitudes of adolescents in different ethnic minority groups, and compares these systematically to majority youth in the four countries. The chapters cover a wide range of aspects of integration, all addressing comparisons between origin groups, generations, and destination countries, and elucidating processes accounting for differences. The results challenge much current thinking and simplified views on the state of integration. In some aspects, such as own economic means, delinquency, and mental health, children of immigrants are surprisingly similar to majority youth, while in other aspects there are large dissimilarities. There are also substantial differences between ethnic minority groups, with the economic and cultural distance of the origin regions to the destination country being a key factor. For some outcomes, such as language proficiency or host country identification, dissimilarities seem to narrow over generations, but this does not hold for other outcomes, such as religiosity and attitudes. Remaining differences partly depend on ethnic segregation, some on socioeconomic inequality, and others on parental influences. Most interestingly, the book finds that the four destination countries, though different in their immigration histories, policy approaches, and contextual conditions, are on the whole similar in the general patterns of integration and in the underlying processes.

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