Recent Immigration Processes and Early Integration Trajectories in Germany
Final Report Abstract
The aim of the ENTRA project was to describe and analyze the early integration trajectories of new immigrants to Germany. In terms of research design and substantive focus, the project was based on the Norface-DFG-funded predecessor project SCIP (Socio-cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe), in which Turks and Poles were surveyed about 10 years ago. However, it expanded its target population to include refugees (Syrians) and highly skilled Europeans (Italians) that shaped migration inflows to Germany during the time the project was conducted. Although the finalization of the data for empirical research has only just begun, first analyses by the project team provide a wealth of empirical findings. In addition to the description of the changing composition of the immigrant cohorts over time and analyses of early integration processes in the areas of language skills, labor market integration, identity and religiosity, perceptions of discrimination and intentions to stay, it enables particularly innovative analyses of those aspects of integration processes that have so far received little attention. First, by comparing SCIP and ENTRA data, it is possible to analyze the impact of the pandemic on early integration trajectories. For this purpose, so-called matching procedures were used to form “pairs of twins” among respondents surveyed in the SCIP and those surveyed in the ENTRA project. This enabled us to assess how pandemic-related lockdown measures shaped integration trajectories. Initial analyses suggest that the pandemic has slowed down integration in various areas but accelerated it in others (such as political interest). Secondly, as part of the ENTRA project, detailed information on the respondents’ regions of origin was collected. For the first time, the educational selectivity of the emigrants (as compared to the non-migrant population) and its effects on integration processes can be examined. Thirdly, the survey collected data on the physical visibility of the respondents at the individual level, which was previously hardly available for the German context. This renders it possible to examine the effects of phenotypic difference (such as a darker skin tone or a headscarf) on perceived acceptance and actual integration success. The data is currently being used in several dissertations by the project staff and in publications by the PIs, and will be available to other interested researchers via GESIS.
Publications
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Destination-language acquisition of recently arrived immigrants: Do refugees differ from other immigrants? Journal for Educational Research Online, 2021(1), 128–156.
Kristen, Cornelia & Seuring, Julian
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Migration – Mythen der Zuwanderung im Faktencheck. Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Diehl, C.
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The education of recently arrived refugees in Germany: Conditions, processes, and outcomes. Journal for Educational Research Online, 2021(1), 5-15.
Edele, Aileen; Kristen, Cornelia; Stanat, Petra & Will, Gisela
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Weder akkurat noch eingebildet: Diskriminierungswahrnehmungen von Zugewanderten. In_equality magazin: Das Forschungsmagazin des Exzellenzclusters „The Politics of Inequality“, 2(1), 8–11.
Diehl, C.
