User talk:Mitisthere/sandbox

Social integration refers to the process during which newcomers such as immigrants are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions of integration, which is a concept used to describe newcomers’ experiences in the society that is receiving them. A higher extent of social integration contributes to a closer social distance between local and non-local groups and more consistent values and practices.

Definition of Integration Integration was first studied by Park and Burgess in 1921 through the concept of assimilation. They defined as "a process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments, and attitude of other persons and groups and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them in a common cultural life." While some scholars offered an assimilation theory, arguing that immigrants would be assimilated into the host society economically, socially and culturally over successive generations, others developed a multiculturalism theory, anticipating that immigrants could maintain their ethnic identities through the integration process to shape the host society with a diversified cultural heritage. Extending from the assimilation theory, a third group of scholars proposed a segmented integration theory, stressing that different groups of migrants might follow distinct trajectories towards upward or downward mobility on different dimensions, depending on their individual, contextual and structural factors.

Measurements of Social Integration Compared with other dimensions of integration, social integration focuses more on the degree to which immigrants adapt local customs, social relations, and daily practices. It is usually measured through social network, language, and intermarriage. The most commonly used indicator of social integration is social network, which refers to the connection that immigrants build with others in the host society. While some researchers use the total number of immigrants’ friends as a measure, others use the frequency of interaction with friends. One thing worthy noticing is that more and more studies differentiate local friends from immigrant friends because the former is considered more important in integrating immigrants into the local society than the latter. Language is another important variable to access the degree of immigrants’ social integration. A higher level in grasping local language results in more chances to communicate with local people and a better understanding of local culture. A typical question used in survey is as “Do you understand the local people’s language?” In the United States, for instance, the fluency of English is an widely used indicator and can be easily found in a report on immigration. Intermarriage is also an indicator of social integration. For those who are unmarried, they will be asked: “Would you consider marrying a local people?”; for those married, question will be like “Would you like your children to consider marrying a local people?” Answers to these questions are a good predictor of immigrants’ willingness to be integrated into the host society.

Mitisthere (talk) 15:26, 11 December 2017 (UTC)