New from IMR: Immigrants and Integration in Western Europe
March 24, 2016
The Spring 2016 edition of the International Migration Review (IMR) — the premier interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal in the field of international migration, ethnic group relations, and refugee movements — is now available online for FREE until the end of 2016. It is also available in print through paid or institutional subscription. This edition includes a series of papers on immigrant integration in Western Europe, with several articles highlighting the challenges and difficulties Muslim immigrants and subsequent generations face in successfully integrating into their host societies.
A few highlights from the Spring 2016 edition include:
Constructing Immigrants: Portrayals of Migrant Groups in British National Newspapers, 2010–2012
Scott Blinder and William L. Allen
Several studies suggest that negative portrayals of immigrants in the media may fuel public opposition to immigration. It is, however, difficult to demonstrate a causal relationship between media consumption and public perceptions. In this study, the authors examine British media coverage of immigration to see whether press portrayals of migrants provide a basis for public opposition to immigration. Using a selection of roughly 43 million words from over 58,000 newspaper articles, the authors employed a computer-assisted analysis to uncover patterns and characteristics demonstrating a link between news coverage and public perceptions of immigration. The findings suggest that British media coverage shapes public attitudes toward immigration through selective depictions of migrants as asylum seekers, illegal immigrants, or economic migrants, while downplaying other depictions such as migrants as family members or international students. Because of the power of press portrayals to shape perceptions of what constitutes “immigration,” the study makes a plausible case for the media’s influence on public opinion.
Cultural Integration in the Muslim Second Generation in the Netherlands: The Case of Gender Ideology
Mieke Maliepaard and Richard Alba
In the Netherlands, relations between Muslims and non-Muslims have become polarized around issues of religion and gender. A striking percentage of native Dutch, for instance, associate Islam with the suppression of women. In this setting, the Moroccan and Turkish second generation (immigrants’ children who were either born in the Netherlands or arrived at young ages) is coming of age. This study assesses the attitudes among the second generation on the gendered division of paid work and family responsibilities as compared to the attitudes of their parents. The authors consider how education and interaction with native Dutch, for example, influence the ways in which the second generation changes in comparison to the older generation. While, on the whole, there is a movement among second-generation Muslim youth toward the more liberal Dutch mainstream, some youth become more traditional than their parents. The findings suggest that these shifts are associated with educational success and the presence (or lack) of interaction with native Dutch.
Additional original articles available in the Spring 2016 issue:
As French as Anyone Else: Islam and the North African Second Generation in France
Jean Beaman
Native Friends and Host Country Identification among Adolescent Immigrants in Germany: The Role of Ethnic Boundaries
Benjamin Schulz and Lars Leszczensky
Deporting Fathers: Involuntary Transnational Families and Intent to Remigrate among Salvadoran Deportees
Jodi Berger Cardoso, Erin Randle Hamilton, Nestor Rodriguez, Karl Eschbach, and Jacqueline Hagan
New IMR book reviews are also available. IMR book reviews are available for free for three years from the date of the review’s publication.
The Scattered Family: Parenting, African Migrants, and Global Inequality by Cati Coe, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014
Maria C. Marchetti Mercer
Looking Like the Enemy: Japanese Mexicans, the Mexican State, and US Hegemony by Jerry García, Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2014
Mark Overmyer-Velázquez
Guatemala–US Migration: Transforming Regions by Susanne Jonas and Nestor Rodríguez, Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014
Jared P. Van Ramshorst
Visions of Zion: Ethiopians and Rastafari in the Search for the Promised Land by Erin MacLeod, New York: New York University Press, 2014
Fikru N. Gebrekidan