The socio-cultural integration of immigrants in Germany: changes across generations

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-01-2022-0013
• Published date: 14 December 2022
• Date: 14 December 2022
• Pages: 416-433
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity,equality,inclusion
• Author: Eleftherios Giovanis,Sacit Hadi Akdede

The socio-cultural integration of

immigrants in Germany: changes

across generations

Eleftherios Giovanis

Department of International Trade and Business, Bakircay Universitesi,

Izmir, Turkey, and

Sacit Hadi Akdede

Department of Economics, Bakircay Universitesi, Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

Purpose –Previous studies have used language proficiency, citizenship, labour indicators, educational

outcomes and political rights as measures of migrants’socio-cultural integration. However, little is known

about the migrants’participation in volunteering activities, music concerts, theatrical plays and artistic

activities, among others, and how this is compared to the participation of natives, defined as people of German

descent and born in Germany. The study aims to investigateand compare the cultural and social involvement

between migrants and natives.

Design/methodology/approach –The analysis relies on information from the German Socio-Economic

Panel Survey (GSOEP). Panel data models, in particular, the random-effects ordered Logit model, are utilised

because the investigated outcomes are recorded in frequency and are ordered variables. The authors compare

the participation in socio-cultural activities among immigrants of the first, second and 2.5 generations.

Findings –The findings indicate that first-generation immigrants are less likely to engage in various socio-

cultural activities. However, the 2.5 generation immigrants are more active than the native population, as this

generation of immigrants participates more frequently.

Social implications –The findings highlight the importance of fostering interaction between natives and

immigrants in the workplace and the social and cultural realms. Participation in social and cultural activities

may increase intercultural awareness and contribute to the eradication of bias and prejudice.

Originality/value –To the best of the authors’knowledge, this is the first study to use a large panel dataset to

compare the participation of natives and migrants in various social and cultural activities. In addition, this is

the first study to analyse second and 2.5-generation immigrants.

Keywords International migration, First and second-generation immigrants, Panel data,

Socio-cultural participation

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

The main logic and argument of the contemporary international migration movements,

especially towards the Western developed countries, is the economic advantages associated

with them and the migrants’expectations of social promotion in the destination country.

Therefore, since the motivation for migration is an improvement in living standards in terms

of monetary value, the cultural prospects tend to be secondary to the immigrants (Ok

olski,

2006;Aksoy and Poutvaara, 2019). In other words, the migration movements are determined

by the economic motivation that will bring economic power and privilege in the future, even

though numerous migrants have been escaping violent conflicts over the last years, and there

is little room for cultural autonomy and enhancement in these movements. Hence,

international migration should be interpreted in both contexts of economic aspirations and

current cultural features, as the decision to migrate to any place can be culturally very

different from the origin country.

This study is motivated by the fact that researchers have paid less attention to an essential

and significant aspect of human socialisation and integration: the extent to which migrants

participate in various social and cultural activities in host societies. With the inclusion of the

EDI

42,3

416

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 19 January 2022

Revised 12 September 2022

21 October 2022

Accepted 24 November 2022

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 42 No. 3, 2023

pp. 416-433

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-01-2022-0013

commitment to “leave no one behind”in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, migrant

integration has assumed a central position on the global agenda. Increased interest in

immigrant integration highlights the need for additional research.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) defines integration as a two-way

adaptation process by migrants and host communities. This definition includes the rights

and responsibilities of both parties, access to the labour market and forms of services and the

identification and respect of a core set of values that bind native and migrant communities to

a common goal. For example, social inclusion refers to migrants’full socio-cultural, economic

and political participation in host communities. Indicators of successful integration of

migrants include, among others, a decrease in the wage gap and an improvement in living

standards, education, emp loyment, health and social inclusion. Consequently, w hile

integration in the civic, political and socio-economic spheres are important outcomes, the

cultural participation of migrants is worthy of study because it may improve well-being and

promote social inclusion (Birman, 2011;Algan et al., 2012;Docquier et al., 2014;Giovanis et al.,

2021;Giovanis, 2021,2022).

Few studies have looked into the role of various cultural and social activities in the

integration process and well-being (Stodolska and Alexandris, 2004;Bertacchini et al., 2022;

Berasategi Sancho et al., 2022). Furthermore, the empirical analysis in numerous studies relies

on cross-sectional data, while we employ panel data to follow individuals across time. The

sample size used in previous studies is small compared to the empirical work of this paper.

Therefore, panel data contain more information and variability, improving the modelling.

Furthermore, including area and time-fixed effects, regressions may eliminate unobserved

area and time-constant heterogeneity that could otherwise cause a measurement error and

confounding bias (Vidal and Lersch, 2021). Nevertheless, still, panel data cannot account for

time-varying unobserved heterogeneity.

Another advantage of the panel data is that, as mentioned earlier, the regressions may

control for unobserved area characteristics, such as migration diaspora. In particular, North-

Western European countries have witnessed large migration flows since Second World War

from Southern and Eastern European countries and, until recently, from non-European

countries. Nevertheless, the patterns of migration flows and dynamics of diaspora vary by

area within the host countries. A typical example is Germany, where most newcomers

migrate to South Germany and Bavaria (Tanis, 2018). The spatial differentiation of

population migration may highlight regional differences in the patterns of settlements of

migrants, economic levels and related employment opportunities. Thus, these migration

patterns in certain ethnic settlements may affect the labour market opportunities and socio-

cultural participation outcomes (Beine et al., 2011;Prinz, 2019;Smith et al., 2019). Moreover,

the survey employed in the analysis follows individuals over a long period, including those

who have abandoned the original households or have created new household samples. Also, it

allows us to account for a diverse set of dynamics at the individual and household level,

including educational attainment, employment status and changes in family arrangements

that may be associated with social and cultural participation.

This study aims to contribute to the existing body of knowledge by identifying and

investigating 2.5 and second-generation immigrants. Specifically, 2.5-generation immigrants

are individuals born in the host country and have one immigrant parent. Second-generation

migrants are those who were born to immigrants in the host country.

2. Literature review and theoretical framework

2.1 Participation in socio-cultural activities

Because of the increasing numbers of immigrants, the weight of research on migrant integration

is growing (Heath et al., 2008;Giovanis et al., 2021). Given the substantial socio-cultural and

Socio-cultural

integration of

immigrants

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