Interethnic contacts : a dynamic analysis of interaction between immigrants and natives in Western countries

Abstract

This book studies social integration of immigrants (i.e. contacts between immigrants and natives in leisure time) from a dynamic perspective. The central objective is to examine how such interethnic contacts change during the immigrants’ stay in the host country (do they increase, stagnate or decrease over time?), and to explain why some immigrants integrate socially at a faster pace than others (can the changes in interethnic contacts be explained by means of pre-migration and post-migration characteristics of immigrants?). An additional aim is to specify the conditions under which natives are more likely to engage in contact with immigrants. Throughout the book a theory of preferences, opportunities and third parties is used for deriving hypotheses about the determinants of interethnic contacts (e.g. education, language proficiency, age at migration). These hypotheses are then tested with data from three Western countries: the Netherlands, Germany and Canada. By applying a dynamic framework and relying on longitudinal surveys, more confident conclusions can be drawn about the causes of social integration. The main finding is that immigrants get increasingly socially integrated during the time spent in the host country. However, the pace of integration is on average rather slow. Immigrants who migrate at a younger age, as well as those who have a higher level of education and better language proficiency, tend to acquire more native friends over time. The same holds for immigrants inhabiting ethnically mixed, as opposed to segregated, neighborhoods. One of the strongest determinants of new interethnic contacts are the existing ties: immigrants get to know more native people especially if they already have some native friends and a native partner. While most of the characteristics that determine interethnic contact for immigrants also determine interethnic contact for natives, some of the characteristics have different effects for the two groups. For instance, higher educated immigrants have more contact with natives, whereas higher educated natives have less contact with immigrants. Such contrasting findings underline the relevance of studying immigrants and natives alike.