groups, we define rural elites by their individual power position, not from being part of closed power networks. Although rural elites are not necessarily formal representatives of the community, they are expected to act on behalf of collective interests, and are thus influential as regards local development (Steen, 2009). We ask: How do Nordic rural elites link immigration to rural resilience, and what characterizes their perspectives across the Nordic countries? What roles do they ascribe to immigrants in co-producing rural resilience? We examine how rural elites address international in-migration in their place narratives, including aspects of promoting or restraining local development. Applying elite perspectives risks concealing problematic power dynamics and issues of community representation (see Varley & Curtin 2006). However, such perceptions of what is a good rural (multi-ethnic) community, and how immigrants are perceived in becoming part of the community, are relevant because of the elites' influencing capacities and roles as decision-makers. A Norwegian study shows that municipal decision-makers emphasize instrumental benefits and municipal self-interests, downplaying emotional fears that immigration might disturb the traditional ethnos in the local discourse (Steen, 2009). A recent study confirms that small municipalities are motivated to settle refugees because they increase the population (Søholt et al., 2018).
Ethnic residential segregation is often explained with the claim that 'immigrants don't want to integrate-they prefer to stick together with co-ethnics'. By contrast, mixed neighbourhoods are seen as crucial for achieving social cohesion. In line with spatial assimilation theory there is a normative assumption that people interact with those living nearby. From interviews on neighbourhood qualities and locations valued by Oslo residents of Turkish, Somali and Polish backgrounds, we raise questions about the validity of two assumptions: that most immigrants want to live in the same neighbourhoods as coethnics; and that they want to live close to co-ethnics because they do not want to integrate. For reasons of socialisation, main preferences were for mixed neighbourhoods that included ethnic Norwegians. Whereas the preference for people of other immigrant backgrounds was linked to possibilities for socialisation, the preference for ethnic Norwegians in the neighbourhood was linked to possibilities for social integration. Coethnic networks could be maintained on the city level. Importantly, housing moves tended to be guided by other factors than population composition in the area.
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