Modeling migrant adaptation: Coping with social strain, assimilation, and non-integration

Abstract

This article adapts Robert Merton’s theory of coping with social strain to revisit the main paradigms in the literature of migrant adaptation. Intersecting this literature with Merton’s theory of coping with social strain and the ideas of emergence and resistance, the authors develop five new ideal types of migrant adaptation: (1) migrant conformity through straight-line assimilation; (2) migrant ritualism through multidirectional assimilation; (3) migrant retreatism through segmented assimilation; (4) migrant innovation through transnationalism; and (5) migrant rebellion through cosmopolitanism. The authors’ typology makes the point that migrant adaptation is a plural and ambiguous process, which needs to be understood and explained to identify the causes and effects of long-term migrant adaptation, integration or non-integration. The results show that these ideal types provide an explanation of how and why many of the paradigms on which the literature on migrant adaptation is based also lead to different forms of migrant non-adaptation.

The Effect of Length of Residence and Geographical Origin on the Social Inclusion of Immigrants

“…This study shows the relevance of length of residence as a variable to explain social inclusion processes in immigrants. It also shows that linear models are not the only viable alternative in the study of social inclusion, despite the positive trend over time (Bürgelt et al, 2008;Kwok-bun & Plüss, 2013;Tartakovsky, 2009). The social inclusion of immigrants should be discussed in terms of multiple specific processes rather than a single specific process and should be based on recognition of cultural diversity while taking into account the characteristics of place of reception.…”

“…A positive association has been found between the social inclusion of immigrants and length of residence in a given country and in a specific area (Kearns & Whitley, 2015). In contrast to the accepted view that social inclusion is a gradual linear process by which immigrants become naturally integrated in the host culture over time (Godenau, Rinken, Martínez, & Moreno, 2014;Uña et al, 2009), a new perspective suggests that there are many types of inclusion (Bürgelt, Morgan, & Pernice, 2008;Kwok-bun & Plüss, 2013;Tartakovsky, 2009). The well-accepted U-shaped curve is one of the alternatives to such linear models; however, there is insufficient evidence to consider it a good model of the adaptation process in immigrants (Michel et al, 2012).…”

La lengua al servicio de la adaptación sociocultural y económica de los migrantes en la época de las transformaciones globales

“…En la bibliografía científica dedicada a la adaptación de los migrantes en una sociedad de lengua extranjera, en su mayoría se examinan los casos relacionados con la asimilación de los propiamente inmigrantes, es decir, de las personas que llegaron al país para residir permanentemente -sobre esto escriben tanto los investigadores rusos (Golunov, 2014;Gorenburg, 2014;Streltsova, 2014) como los extranjeros (Edwards, 2008;Jacobson, 1999;Kwok-bun, 2013;Mouw, 1999;Nesdale, 2000]. Pero la particularidad de los migrantes en Rusia consiste en la concientización de la temporalidad de su estancia en la Federación Rusa y, por eso, en la ausencia del deseo de asimilarse en la sociedad rusa.…”

“…De tal manera, la encuesta realizada en 2014 entre los migrantes respecto de sus planes de estancia en Moscú, mostró que solamente 22% querían quedarse en la capital rusa para residir permanentemente, pero que la mayoría (72%) percibían su vida allí como estrictamente temporal (Zajnchkovskaya, 2014). Además, la mayor parte de las dificultades para adaptarse se examinan desde la perspectiva de la sociología y la politología (Edwards, 2008;Golunov, 2014;Gorenburg, 2014;Jacobson, 1999;Kwok-bun, 2013;Mouw, 1999;Nesdale, 2000). Por esto, el análisis de los problemas dados a través del prisma del enfoque antropológico hacia la etnolingüística, la detección de los "puntos neurálgicos" de la desintegración lingüística de la gente, de las causas de la polarización de la sociedad según el principio propio-extraño, junto con la conservación del pluralismo étnico, se presentan importantes e interesantes, en especial en la etapa actual cuando el movimiento migratorio abarca cada vez más el espacio geopolítico.…”

Stories of the ‘dark’ continent: Crude constructions, diasporic identity, and international aid to Africa

“…Africa has therefore often been placed in the position of subservience and dependence (Kapoor, 2002;Martin, 1986), presented as savage (Henderson, 2001;Simpson, 2007), in need of 'enduring' civilizing intervention and colonization (Brown, 2000;Johnson, 1988;Lüthy, 1961), and post-political independence economic aid (Bräutigam and Knack, 2004;Goldsmith, 2001). Still, for many Africans, the solution to problems experienced in Africa can only be found through migration to the developed world (Akanle, 2013;Omobowale, 2013), where they are faced with the realities of integration, survival, success, and possible despondency (Dodoo, 1997;Freeman, 2002;Kwok-bun and Plüss, 2013;Waldinger, 1999). Irrespective of diverse explanations, it is important to note that Africa's underdevelopment discourse and process cannot be dissociated from its peripheral positioning in the international political economy (Haque, 2002;Munford, 1978).…”