Social Integration and Intermarriage in Europe: Islam, Partner-Choices and Parental Influence (Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations)

Intergroup friendships and marriages are regarded as the most important indicators of immigrants’ social integration, as they represent the most intimate ties that can exist between minority and majority group members. Drawing on unique, large-scale, cross-national survey data, encompassing natives as well as Turkish, Moroccan, Pakistani and ex-Yugoslav migrants across several Western European countries, this book offers extensive analyses of intermarriage, as well as attitudes towards intermarriage and intergroup dating in general. Conceptualising the willingness or otherwise to marry outside one’s ethnic or religious group in terms of social distance, Social Integration and Intermarriage in Europe provides new evidence that different conceptions of family life, gender relations and religiosity are crucial for understanding why individuals can be reluctant to engage in intergroup relationships. With attention to the question of the role played by state policies in explaining immigrant social integration, the book explores differences across Western Europe and the ways in which each state regulates immigration and the accommodation of Islam. A detailed and rigorous study of attitudes to intermarriage, social integration and the role of the state, Social Integration and Intermarriage in Europe will appeal to policy makers and scholars of within the social sciences, with interests in migration, interethnic relations and social integration. Suspect Families is the first book to investigate the social, political, and ethical implications of parental testing for family reunification in immigration cases. Drawing on policy documents, legal frameworks, case study material and interviews with representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisation and immigration authorities, immigration lawyers, geneticists and applicants for family reunification, the book analyses the different political regimes and social arrangements in which DNA analysis is adopted for decision-making on family reunification in three distinct European countries: Austria, Finland and Germany. Interdisciplinary in scope, the book reconstructs the processes, institutional logic and the political and administrative practices of DNA testing from a comparative perspective, combining theoretical conceptualisation with detailed empirical work to explore the central societal, political and ethical issues raised by the use of DNA profiling in the context of immigration policy. A ground-breaking study of the role played by new technologies in migration decisions, Suspect Families will appeal to scholars of sociology, political science, science and technology studies and surveillance studies. This book offers a comparative analysis of the intercultural theories and practices developed in the European context. Bringing together work on the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, The Netherlands and Sweden, it examines specific approaches to intercultural education. Structured around a series of core questions concerning the main features of diverse groups of migrants present within a country and within schools, the major issues raised by scientific research on the presence of migrant students, and the adoption of relevant educational policies and practices to address these issues - together with examples of best practice in each case - Intercultural Education in the European Context explores the strengths and weaknesses of the intercultural education approach adopted in each context. Offering a broad framework for the study of intercultural education as adopted in European settings, the book highlights the contribution of education to the development of a fair, democratic and pluralistic Europe. As such, it will appeal to scholars and policy makers in the field of sociology, migration, education and intercultural relations.-- Provided by publisher Introduction; A framework for the study of social integration: the nexus of religion, parental influences and partner choice; An overview of partner choices among Muslim migrants and natives in Western Europe; Intraethnic marriage among immigrant children in Western Europe: transnational spouse or co-ethnic spouse?; Intermarriage attitudes among minority and majority groups in Western Europe: the role of attachment to the family, religious in-group and perceived distance; The intergenerational transmission of intermarriage attitudes and interethnic contact: the role of Turkish migrant parents; Attitudes towards intergroup dating among youth in Brussels: more evidence for the role of parents?; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography; Index. Migrants have organized at all times and in all cities and places. The processes of their accommodation, however, differ, with local authorities and other state institutions playing an important role in these processes. Offering comprehensive empirical insights both from recent sites of immigration in Southern Europe, as well as from places of more established immigration in the north, this book examines the accommodation of migrant organizations in different cities and the factors that affect this process. It thus sheds light on the manner in which the interplay of immigration regime, nation

Intergroup friendships and marriages are regarded as the most important indicators of immigrants