Abstract
The chapter provides an overview of current and recent research on the integration of migrants and refugees in general, and in Sweden in particular. Research on immigrant and refugee integration is based on a set of assumptions, concepts, and definitions that are often tacit rather than explicit. Such assumptions and concepts are multilayered and complex and may lack coherence or even contradict each other. We therefore discuss the varying meanings of ‘integration’ and the conceptual frameworks that underlie these. We argue that mainstream research on migrant integration can be criticized for failing to acknowledge the subjective nature of the integration process and for being insensitive to the views and opinions of refugees.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ager, Alastair, and Alison Strang. 2008. Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework. Journal of Refugee Studies 21 (2): 166–191.
Aldén, Lina och Mats Hammarstedt. 2014. Utrikes födda på den svenska arbetsmarknaden – en översikt och en internationell jämförelse. Växjö, Sweden: Linnaeus University Centre for Labour Market and Discrimination Studies vid Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö.
Andersson, Roger. 1998. Socio-Spatial Dynamics: Ethnic Divisions of Mobility and Housing in Post-Palme Sweden. Urban Studies 35 (3): 397–428.
———. 2007. Ethnic Residential Segregation and Integration Processes in Sweden. In Residential Segregation and the Integration of Immigrants: Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden, ed. Karen Schönwälder, 61–90. Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung.
Appelqvist, Maria. 2000. Flyktingmottagandet och den svenska välfärdsstaten under1990-talet. In Välfärdens förutsättningar, SOU 2000:37, ed. Johan Frizell, 181–222. Stockholm: Fritzes.
Appelqvist, Maria, and Aina Tollefsen-Altamirano. 1998. Svensk flyktingpolitisk utveckling under 1990-talet. In En ny flyktningpolitikk i Norden? Utviklingen av midlertidig beskyttelse pa° 1990-talet, ed. Aina Tollefsen-Altamirano, Maria Appelqvist, Jan-Paul Brekke, and Jens Vedsted-Hansen, 89–146. Köpenhamn: Nordiska ministerra°det.
Åslund, Olof, Anders Forslund, and Linus Liljeberg. 2017. Labour Market Entry of Non-Labour Migrants–Swedish Evidence. Nordic Economy Policy Review, TemaNord 520: 115.
Aytar, Osman. 1999. Integration i mångfald. En studie av sex invandrargruppers upplevda Integration i Sverige. Stockholm: Jina Nu förlag.
Bauböck, Rainer. 1994. Transnational Citizenship: Membership and Rights in International Migration. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Benson, J.K. 1977. Organizations: A Dialectical View. Administrative Science Quarterly 22: 1–21.
Bergström, O., and V. Omanović. 2017. Integrationsstrategier för utlandsfödda i detaljhandeln. Forskningsrapport 2017:9, Handelsrådet.
Beyer, Brittany S., 2015. A Refugee Paradox? Processes of Inclusion and Exclusion of Bosnian Refugees in Germany and Sweden. Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects.
Boguslaw, Julia. 2012. Svensk invandringspolitik under 500 år: 1512–2012. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Bolin, Niklas, Jonas Hinnfors, and Jesper Strömbäck. 2016. Invandring på ledarsidorna i svensk nationell dagspress 2015–2015. In Migrationen i medierna: men det får en väl inte prata om? ed. Lars Truedsson, 192–211. Stockholm: Institutet för mediestudier.
Bonjour, Saskia. 2014. The Transfer of Pre-departure Integration Requirements for Family Migrants Among Member States of the European Union. Comparative Migration Studies 2 (2): 203–226.
Borevi, Karin. 2002. Välfärdsstaten i det mångkulturella samhället. Uppsala: Doktorsavhandling, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, Uppsala universitet.
———. 2010. Dimensions of Citizenship: European Integration Policies from a Scandinavian Perspective. In Diversity, Inclusion and Citizenship in Scandinavia, ed. Bo Bengtsson, Per Strömblad, and Ann-Helén Bay, 19–46. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.
———. 2014. Multiculturalism and Welfare State Integration: Swedish Model Path Dependency. Identities 21 (6): 708–723. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2013.868351.
Bougslaw, Julia. 2012. Svensk Invandringspolitik. Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur.
Breidahl, Karen N. 2017. Scandinavian Exceptionalism? Civic Integration and Labour Market Activation for Newly Arrived Immigrants. Comparative Migration Studies 5: 2.
Brochmann, Grete, and Anniken Hagelund. 2011. Migrants in the Scandinavian Welfare State: The Emergence of a Social Policy Problem. Nordic Journal of Migration Research 1 (1): 13–24.
Brochmann, Grete, and Anniken Hagelund, eds. 2012. Immigration Policy and the Scandinavian Welfare State 1945–2010. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Brubaker, Rogers. 2001. The Return of Assimilation? Changing Perspectives on Immigration and Its Sequels in France, Germany, and the United States. Ethnic and Racial Studies 24 (4): 531–548.
Bucken-Knapp, Gregg. 2009. Defending the Swedish Model: Social Democrats, Trade Unions and Labor Migration Policy Reform. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Carrera, Sergio. 2006. A Comparison of Integration Programmes in the EU. Trends and Weaknesses. Brussel: CEPS.
Dahlström, Carl. 2004. Nästan välkomna. Invandrarpolitikens retorik och praktik. Göteborg: Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, Göteborgs universitet.
Diaz, Jose Alberto. 1993. Choosing Integration: A Theoretical and Empirical Study of the Immigrant Integration in Sweden. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Diedrich, A., and H. Hellgren. 2018. Organizing Labour Market Integration of Foreign-Born Persons in the Gothenburg Metropolitain Area. GRI-Report 2018:3. Gothenburg: Gothenburg Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10968.75523.
Favell, Adrian. 2001. Philosophies of Integration – Immigration and the Idea of Citizenship in France and Britain. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fryklund, Björn. 2008. Ett förändrat Sverige: Migrationen och dess konsekvenser. In Mellan folkhem och Europa – svensk politik i brytningstid, ed. Li Bennich-Björkman and Paula Blomqvist, 284–311. Malmö: Liber AB.
Ghorashi, Halleh. 2010. From Absolute Invisibility to Extreme Visibility: Emancipation Trajectory of Migrant Women in the Netherlands. Feminist Review 94 (1): 75–92.
Goodman, Sara Wallace. 2012. Fortifying Citizenship: Policy Strategies for Civic Integration in Western Europe. World Politics 64: 659–698.
Government Bill. 2016/17:175. Ett nytt regelverk för nyanlända invandrares etablering i arbets- och samhällslivet.
Government Offices of Sweden. 2014. Goals and Visions of Introduction of New Arrivals. http://www.government.se/government-policy/introduction-of-new-arrivals/goals-and-visions-of-introduction-of-new-arrivals/.
Hinnfors, Jonas, Andrea Spehar, and Gregg Bucken-Knapp. 2012. The Missing Factor: Why Social Democracy Can Lead to Restrictive Immigration Policy. Journal of European Public Policy 19 (4): 585–603.
Huddleston, Thomas, et al. 2015. Migrant Integration Policy Index 2015. Barcelona: Centre for International Affairs.
Jacobs, Dirk, and Andrea Rea. 2007. The End of National Models? Integration Courses and Citizenship Trajectories in Europe. International Journal on Multicultural Societies 9 (2): 264–283.
Joppke, Christian. 2004. The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy. The British Journal of Sociology 55 (2): 237–257.
———. 2007. Beyond National Models: Civic Integration Policies for Immigrants in Western Europe. Western European Politics. 30 (1): 1–22.
———. 2017. Civic Integration in Western Europe: Three Debates. West European Politics 40 (6): 1153–1176. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2017.1303252.
Koopmans, Ruud. 2010. Trade-offs Between Equality and Difference: Immigrant Integration, Multiculturalism and the Welfare State in Cross-National Perspective. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36 (1): 1–26.
Korac, Maja. 2001. Cross-Ethnic Networks, Self-Reception System, and Functional Integration of Refugees from Former Yugoslavia in Rome, Italy. Journal of International Migration and Integration 2 (1): 1–26.
———. 2003. Integration and How We Facilitate It: A Comparative Study of the Settlement Experiences of Refugees in Italy and the Netherlands. Sociology 37 (1): 51–68.
Likić-Brborić, Branka, and Li Bennich-Björkman. 2016. Swedish “Exceptionalism” and the Integration of Refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s: Acceptance and Strategies of Citizenship. In Citizens at Heart? Perspectives in Integration of Refugees in the EU After the Yugoslav Wars of Succession, ed. Li Bennich-Björkman, Roland Kostić, and Branka Likić-Brbić, 87–117. Uppsala: Uppsala Multiethnic Papers.
Lundh, Christer, and Rolf Ohlsson. 1999. Från arbetskraftsimport till flyktinginvandring. 2: a rev. uppl. Stockholm: SNS Förlag.
Malik, A., and L. Manroop. 2017. Recent Immigrant Newcomers’ Socialization in the Workplace. Roles of Organizational Socialization Tactics and Newcomer Strategies. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 36 (5): 382–400.
Malmberg, Bo, Eva Andersson, and John Östh. 2013. Segregation and Urban Unrest in Sweden. Urban Geography 34 (7): 1031–1046. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2013.799370.
Milani, Tommaso M. 2008. Language Testing and Citizenship: A Language Ideological Debate in Sweden. Language in Society 37 (1): 27–59.
OECD. 2016. Working Together: Skills and Labour Market Integration of Immigrants and Their Children in Sweden. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Parusel, Bernd. 2016. Sweden’s U-Turn on Asylum. Forced Migration, Review 52: 89–90.
Penninx, Rinus, and Blanca Garcés-Mascareñas. 2014. The Concept of Integration as an Analytical and as a Policy Concept. In Integration of Migrants into What? Integration Processes and Policies in Europe, ed. B. Garcés-Mascareñas and R. Penninx. Amsterdam: IMISCOE/Amsterdam University.
Scholten, Peter P.W.A. 2013. Agenda Dynamics and the Multi-Level Governance of Intractable Policy Controversies: The Case of Migrant Integration Policies in the Netherlands. Policy Sciences 46 (3): 217–236.
Södergran, Lena. 2000. Svensk invandrar- och integrationspolitik. En fråga om jämlikhet, demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter. Umeå: Doktorsavhandling, Sociologiska institutionen, Umeå universitet.
SOU. 2010:16. Sverige för nyanlända: Värden, välfärdsstat, vardagsliv.
Spehar, Andrea, and Linda Berg. 2013. Swimming Against the Tide: Why Sweden Supports Free Labour Mobility Within and From Outside the EU. Policy Studies 34 (2): 142–161.
Statistics Sweden. 2017. Labour Force Surveys: 2016. AM12.
———. 2018. Utrikes födda efter födelseland, ålder och år. SCB: Befolkningsstatistik.
Svenska dagbladet. 2016. https://www.svd.se/forskare-soker-svar-i-bosniers-integration.
Valenta, Marko, and Nihad Bunar. 2010. State Assisted Integration: Refugee Integration Policies in Scandinavian Welfare States: The Swedish and Norwegian Experience. Journal of Refugee Studies 23 (4): 463–483. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feq028.
Valenta, Marko, and Strabac Zan. 2013. The Dynamics of Bosnian Refugee Migrations in the 1990s, Current Migration Trends and Future Prospects. Refugee Survey Quarterly 32 (3): 1–22.
Wiesbrock, Anja. 2011. The Integration of Immigrants in Sweden: A Model for the European Union? International Migration 49 (4): 48–66.
———. 2012. Granting Citizenship-Related Rights to Third-Country Nationals: An Alternative to the Full Extension of European Union Citizenship? European Journal of Migration and Law 14 (1): 63–94.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bucken-Knapp, G., Omanović, V., Spehar, A. (2020). Introduction: Conceptualizing Migrant and Refugee Integration. In: Institutions and Organizations of Refugee Integration. Global Diversities. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27249-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27249-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-27248-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-27249-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)