Vielfalt and diversité: how local actors in France and Germany evaluate immigration and socio-cultural heterogeneity

Abstract

In both Germany and France, perceptions of immigration, diversity and their societal consequences have undergone important transformations in the past two decades. However, existing research has only partially captured such processes. The “grand narratives” of national approaches, while still influential, no longer explain contemporary realities. Further, analyses of national politics and discourses may not sufficiently reflect the realities across localities and society more broadly. While emerging in different national contexts, little is known about how diversity is actually perceived by political stakeholders at the urban level. Given the key role of immigration and diversity in current conflicts over Europe’s future, it is imperative to assess present-day conceptualisations of migration-related diversity among important societal actors.This article investigates perceptions and evaluations of socio-cultural heterogeneity by important societal actors in large cities. We contribute to existing literature by capturing an unusually broad set of actors from state and civil society. We also present data drawn from an unusually large number of cities. How influential is the perception of current society as heterogeneous, and what forms of heterogeneity are salient? And is socio-cultural and migration-related heterogeneity evaluated as threatening or rather as beneficial? Based on an original data set, this study explores the shared and contested ideas, the cognitive roadmaps of state and non-state actors involved in local politics.We argue that, in both German and French cities, socio-cultural heterogeneity is nowadays widely recognized as marking cities and often positively connoted. At the same time, perceptions of the main features of diversity and of the benefits and challenges attached to it vary. We find commonalities between French and German local actors, but also clear differences. In concluding, we suggest how and why national contexts importantly shape evaluations of diversity.

The case for increased centralization in integration governance: the neglected perspective

“…Furthermore, Zapata-Barrero et al (2017) find that conflicting policies at the national and local levels may lead to inconsistencies among the policies pursued by different levels of government. Schiller et al (2020) also show that national and local actors' perceptions of immigration, diversity and their societal consequences have undergone important transformations in the past two decades.…”

Brokerage in urban networks on diversity and inclusion: The case of Rotterdam

“…Policies relating to diversity and inclusion in the Netherlands have experienced multiple shifts since the 1970s: At the national level, immigrant policies have moved from facilitating so-called guest workers' return to the countries of origin, to an acceptance of the Netherlands as a multicultural society, to efforts to make migrants responsible for their integration, to more assimilationist measures (Duyvendak & Scholten, 2011). Local immigrant policies in the Netherlands, like elsewhere, have often diverged from national policies, which are generally characterized as more restrictive and distant from everyday realities of dealing with immigrant accommodation and inclusion (Jørgensen, 2012;Schiller et al, 2020).…”

The Assemblage and Dismantling of Access Barriers in Administrative Bureaucracies: Constructing the Problem of Diversity in the German Welfare State

“…Looking at a German case to explore the ways in which an ontology of intercultural diversity, access barriers, and diversity sensitivity, or “intercultural competence,” is installed in organizations bears several advantages. For one, in Germany issues of race, cultural diversity, and equal opportunity in the workplace have garnered far less political attention and public significance as compared to the US, and they have only recently gained traction (Joppke 2007 ; Schiller et al 2020 ; Schönwälder and Triadafilopoulos 2016 ). Whereas the public discourse in the US today is saturated with social-scientific ideas and concepts pertaining to diversity, race, and cultural difference, such perspectives are not as self-evident or even familiar to people in the German workplace.…”