Social Interactions between Immigrants and Host Country Populations: A Country-of-Origin Perspective

This paper aims at exploring how countries of origin can affect migrants’ socio-cultural integration in multicultural European societies. Socio-cultural integration is considered through the lenses of different kinds of social interactions between migrants and host society namely: intermarriages, interethnic friendship, interethnic relations in workplaces, and encounters in the neighbourhood. The literature review highlighted that these social interactions prove to depend on a multiplicity of factors
related mainly to the destination country (such as residential segregation, degree of racism and
acceptance, opportunities for encounters and neighbourhood effects) and of individual factors related
to the migrant (such as demographic characteristics, migration trajectory and length of residence and
work position). The impact of countries of origin and transnational links is more difficult to assess
considering that little research has directly dealt with the issue. However, the paper shows that some
non-state actors such as family members and some state-actors such as Ministries or consulates, may
have an influence on the social interactions of emigrants abroad even though this influence can be
indirect. The paper tries to map actors and related actions including very specific cases like family
pressure to discourage intermarriage or broader ones through programmes targeting diaspora which
may have an empowerment effect on emigrants and thus foster their socio-cultural integration. Finally,
through the paper, some specific case studies on transnational ties and integration are presented and
several hypotheses and questions for further research are highlighted.