Summary literature Migration & Integration
1
,Content
Summary literature Migration & Integration ................................................................................... 1
Migration to European countries: a structural explanation of patterns, 1980-2004 ............................. 3
Bogus refugees? The determinants of asylum migration to Western Europe .....................................11
The effectiveness of immigration policies .....................................................................................19
Successive national policy models .............................................................................................28
Over-education among immigrants in Europe: the value of civic involvement ...................................34
Pakistani in the UK and Norway: different contexts, similar disadvantage. Results from a comparative
field experiment on hiring discrimination......................................................................................39
Immigration, acculturation and adaptation ..................................................................................47
About but not without: Recently Arrived Refugees’ Understanding of and Expectations for Integration
within a Local Policy Context in the Netherlands ...........................................................................56
What about the mainstream? Assimilation in super-diverse times ..................................................61
The integration paradox: a review and meta-analysis of the complex relationship between integration
and reports of discrimination ......................................................................................................70
The ethnic composition of the neighborhood and ethnic minorities’ social contacts: three unresolved
issues ......................................................................................................................................76
Migrants’ multi-sided social lives: interactions between sociocultural integration and homeland
engagement .............................................................................................................................83
Transnationalism: a new analytic framework for understanding migration .......................................89
Adjustment outcomes of immigrant children and youth in Europe: A meta-analysis ..........................97
Mental health in adolescents with a migration background in 29 European countries: the buffering of
social capital .......................................................................................................................... 100
2
, Migration to European countries: a structural explanation of
patterns, 1980-2004
Hooghe et al., 2008
Abstract
Various theoretical approaches have provided us with insights to explain the pattern of
migration flows. Economic theory considers migration to be a reaction to labor market
and economic incentives. Cultural theories predict that migration flows will occur
according to a center-periphery pattern, while social network analysis assumes that
migrants follow already established migration networks. We test these three approaches
simultaneously, using OECD and Eurostat data on the migrant inflow into the European
countries between 1980 and 2004. The analysis demonstrates that migration flows react
to economic incentives, mainly with regard to the labor market, but also to cultural and
colonial linkages. There is no indication that the importance of the colonial past is
declining over time. The response of migration patterns to shortages in the labor market
is shown to be highly efficient, while the analysis shows that immigrants are not
attracted by high levels of social expenditure.
Introduction
In the current state of research, there is no clear-cut answer to the question why
migrants seem to prefer some countries over others. We know by now migrants leave
their country mainly because of economic reasons, and they expect better living
conditions elsewhere, but this still leaves unresolved the question why they decide to
move to country A instead of country B.
This article concentrates on the pull factors: what attracts migration to European
countries. We can distinguish at least three possible approaches to explain the pull
factors determining a country’s attractiveness for migrants:
1. Economic and labor theories
= Assume that migrants react to shortages on the labor market, thus providing for
an equilibrium in labor markets, both in their country of origin and in the country
they head to.
2. Cultural and world system theory
= Assumes that migration patterns reflect center/periphery relations in the world
system. Migrants typically move from the periphery to the center, in terms of
linguistic dominance or cultural hegemony.
3. Social capital or social network approach
= Assumes that migrants are attracted by the fact that other migrants from the
same ethnic group have already settled in the receiving society, thus allowing for
the occurrence of networks of recruitment.
→ These theoretical approaches do not exclude one another, and they do not
necessarily contradict one another.
This article uses a data set of migration patterns, covering 21 European countries, and
attempts to explain migration flows over a 25-year period.
3
, The goal of this article is to explore the empirical validity of each one of these theoretical
frameworks. They want to test three hypothesis, by also including a number of political
control variables to ascertain whether political systems actually have an impact on
immigration patterns and figures.
Literature review
Overviews of the literature on the causes of international migration invariably start with
the presentation of the “push-pull framework,” which has its origins in liberal economic
theories. These theories focus on economic factors to explain migration as they assume
that the supply and demand effect (at the macro level) and individual cost-benefit
analyses (at the micro level) eventually lead to the establishment of an equilibrium on
the labor market, reached by the aggregate effect of individual decisions to migrate to
another country. These theories typically lead to the conclusion that people migrate
from low income to high income economies, or from regions experiencing a downward
economic trend to regions experiencing economic expansion.
→ Critic: too narrow focus on a complex phenomenon such as migration. Concepts
were developed in an industrial era, so they no longer offer the best perspective on
migration in a post-industrial, globalizing world. Also, migrants don’t typically originate
from the poorest countries, but rather from regions undergoing rapid social and
economic change. They also don’t offer an explanation for between-country differences,
for differences between individuals and for the resilience of certain flows whose original
cause have disappeared or diminished.
Another, more recent theoretical approach places migration in a broader historical and
structural context. According to the world systems theory, migrants flows are triggered
when capitalist economic relations enter non- or pre-capitalist societies. This leads to
new economic and cultural ties between core countries (industrialized economies) and
peripheral countries. An important aspect of this is the continued influence of colonial
relations, for example through educational systems introduced during the colonial
period. This explains why former colonial powers continue to attract migrants from their
former colonies. In addition to colonial history, modern mass media also play a role:
they spread Western lifestyles and raise consumer expectations in peripheral societies,
which stimulates migration.
Other theories have been developed to explain why migration flows may become
persistent once they have been initiated. These theories focus on networks linking
migrants to a variety of people, both migrants and non-migrants, in their society of origin
and at their destination. Such migration-facilitating networks tend to enlarge over time,
reducing the costs and risks of migration for ever-greater numbers of migrants. At the
same time, migration becomes institutionalized though the workings of various private
and voluntary organizations active in the field. In this way, migration may become the
norm rather than the exception for the people within the networks and migrant flows
may be perpetuated despite the disappearance of their initial causes.
→ Once ethnic communities will have settled in a host country, for whatever reason,
this allows future cohorts of this community to gain easier entrance. Often these new
4
1
,Content
Summary literature Migration & Integration ................................................................................... 1
Migration to European countries: a structural explanation of patterns, 1980-2004 ............................. 3
Bogus refugees? The determinants of asylum migration to Western Europe .....................................11
The effectiveness of immigration policies .....................................................................................19
Successive national policy models .............................................................................................28
Over-education among immigrants in Europe: the value of civic involvement ...................................34
Pakistani in the UK and Norway: different contexts, similar disadvantage. Results from a comparative
field experiment on hiring discrimination......................................................................................39
Immigration, acculturation and adaptation ..................................................................................47
About but not without: Recently Arrived Refugees’ Understanding of and Expectations for Integration
within a Local Policy Context in the Netherlands ...........................................................................56
What about the mainstream? Assimilation in super-diverse times ..................................................61
The integration paradox: a review and meta-analysis of the complex relationship between integration
and reports of discrimination ......................................................................................................70
The ethnic composition of the neighborhood and ethnic minorities’ social contacts: three unresolved
issues ......................................................................................................................................76
Migrants’ multi-sided social lives: interactions between sociocultural integration and homeland
engagement .............................................................................................................................83
Transnationalism: a new analytic framework for understanding migration .......................................89
Adjustment outcomes of immigrant children and youth in Europe: A meta-analysis ..........................97
Mental health in adolescents with a migration background in 29 European countries: the buffering of
social capital .......................................................................................................................... 100
2
, Migration to European countries: a structural explanation of
patterns, 1980-2004
Hooghe et al., 2008
Abstract
Various theoretical approaches have provided us with insights to explain the pattern of
migration flows. Economic theory considers migration to be a reaction to labor market
and economic incentives. Cultural theories predict that migration flows will occur
according to a center-periphery pattern, while social network analysis assumes that
migrants follow already established migration networks. We test these three approaches
simultaneously, using OECD and Eurostat data on the migrant inflow into the European
countries between 1980 and 2004. The analysis demonstrates that migration flows react
to economic incentives, mainly with regard to the labor market, but also to cultural and
colonial linkages. There is no indication that the importance of the colonial past is
declining over time. The response of migration patterns to shortages in the labor market
is shown to be highly efficient, while the analysis shows that immigrants are not
attracted by high levels of social expenditure.
Introduction
In the current state of research, there is no clear-cut answer to the question why
migrants seem to prefer some countries over others. We know by now migrants leave
their country mainly because of economic reasons, and they expect better living
conditions elsewhere, but this still leaves unresolved the question why they decide to
move to country A instead of country B.
This article concentrates on the pull factors: what attracts migration to European
countries. We can distinguish at least three possible approaches to explain the pull
factors determining a country’s attractiveness for migrants:
1. Economic and labor theories
= Assume that migrants react to shortages on the labor market, thus providing for
an equilibrium in labor markets, both in their country of origin and in the country
they head to.
2. Cultural and world system theory
= Assumes that migration patterns reflect center/periphery relations in the world
system. Migrants typically move from the periphery to the center, in terms of
linguistic dominance or cultural hegemony.
3. Social capital or social network approach
= Assumes that migrants are attracted by the fact that other migrants from the
same ethnic group have already settled in the receiving society, thus allowing for
the occurrence of networks of recruitment.
→ These theoretical approaches do not exclude one another, and they do not
necessarily contradict one another.
This article uses a data set of migration patterns, covering 21 European countries, and
attempts to explain migration flows over a 25-year period.
3
, The goal of this article is to explore the empirical validity of each one of these theoretical
frameworks. They want to test three hypothesis, by also including a number of political
control variables to ascertain whether political systems actually have an impact on
immigration patterns and figures.
Literature review
Overviews of the literature on the causes of international migration invariably start with
the presentation of the “push-pull framework,” which has its origins in liberal economic
theories. These theories focus on economic factors to explain migration as they assume
that the supply and demand effect (at the macro level) and individual cost-benefit
analyses (at the micro level) eventually lead to the establishment of an equilibrium on
the labor market, reached by the aggregate effect of individual decisions to migrate to
another country. These theories typically lead to the conclusion that people migrate
from low income to high income economies, or from regions experiencing a downward
economic trend to regions experiencing economic expansion.
→ Critic: too narrow focus on a complex phenomenon such as migration. Concepts
were developed in an industrial era, so they no longer offer the best perspective on
migration in a post-industrial, globalizing world. Also, migrants don’t typically originate
from the poorest countries, but rather from regions undergoing rapid social and
economic change. They also don’t offer an explanation for between-country differences,
for differences between individuals and for the resilience of certain flows whose original
cause have disappeared or diminished.
Another, more recent theoretical approach places migration in a broader historical and
structural context. According to the world systems theory, migrants flows are triggered
when capitalist economic relations enter non- or pre-capitalist societies. This leads to
new economic and cultural ties between core countries (industrialized economies) and
peripheral countries. An important aspect of this is the continued influence of colonial
relations, for example through educational systems introduced during the colonial
period. This explains why former colonial powers continue to attract migrants from their
former colonies. In addition to colonial history, modern mass media also play a role:
they spread Western lifestyles and raise consumer expectations in peripheral societies,
which stimulates migration.
Other theories have been developed to explain why migration flows may become
persistent once they have been initiated. These theories focus on networks linking
migrants to a variety of people, both migrants and non-migrants, in their society of origin
and at their destination. Such migration-facilitating networks tend to enlarge over time,
reducing the costs and risks of migration for ever-greater numbers of migrants. At the
same time, migration becomes institutionalized though the workings of various private
and voluntary organizations active in the field. In this way, migration may become the
norm rather than the exception for the people within the networks and migrant flows
may be perpetuated despite the disappearance of their initial causes.
→ Once ethnic communities will have settled in a host country, for whatever reason,
this allows future cohorts of this community to gain easier entrance. Often these new
4
