Current Trends and Developments
| Date | 01 October 1988 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1988.tb00665.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1988 |
| Author | U. Mehrländer |
Current Trends and Developments
CURRENT TRENDS IN MIGRATION STUDIES IN WESTERN EUROPE*
Current trends in the sociology of migration can be illustrated well by the topics and
findings of the relevant national and international conferences held in Western Europe in
1987 and 1988. There, the results of ongoing or newly completed research projects were
presented.
The main emphasis of research lay on the integration of second-generation migrants
into Western European receiving countries. However, it needs to be stressed that at both
the national and the international level the term ‘integration’ is not used by researchers in
a clearly and uniformly defined manner. According to Esser, the reason for the difficulty
in amving at
a
common terminology relating to the integration
of
migrants is that the
position of migrants in the receiving system may include virtually all potential
relationships between people and their social environment
:
conflict, marginality,
segregation, adoption of values and types of behaviour, interaction, status, etc.
Consequently, it is no coincidence that a large number of terms, some
of
identical and
others of different content, are being used: acculturation, assimilation, integration, etc.
(Esser, 1980: 19).
Studies
on
the situation of second-generation migrants in the Federal Republic of
Germany (Mehrlander: 1978, 1983, 1987, 1988), have followed the definition
established by Hoffmann-Nowotny, who employs a structural-functionalistic approach.
He distinguishes between assimilation and integration. He views assimilation as
participation in the cultural values of the receiving country, and integration as
participation in its social values. The degree of integration can thus be measured by the
degree of access to the receiving system’s values imbedded
in
institutionalized orders
(Hoffmann-Nowotny, 1973
:
4, 175). The integration of second-generation migrants can
be gauged above all by their integration into economic, political and community
structures (Hoffmann-Nowotny, 1986
:
198).
Integration
of
second-generation migrants into the economic structure
of
Western
European receiving countries
At the end of 1987 a number of conferences were held in the Federal Republic of
Germany on the access of foreign youth, i. e. children of first-generation migrants, to the
vocational training system and the labour market.’ Results of a pilot project just
Paper prepared
for
the Research Council
of
the International Sociological Association,
Ljubljana,Yugoslavia, September
1-5,
1988
46
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