Conference Programme (PDF, 1019KB) - Trinity College Dublin

abstracts by stream and session
Our results suggest that social trust is not stable thorough one’s life and that welfare design matters for people’s social trust. Overall, the
social trust of immigrants’ descendant is closer to the social trust of natives than to the social trust of their parents. In addition, welfare
spending, particularly spending in universal benefits is positively related to people’s social trust, regardless of their migratory status.
This study adds to the existing literature in several ways: by exploring the impact of the welfare state in the social capital of immigrants in
a comparative setting, by testing the cultural versus the institutional hypothesis on people’s social capital, and by including market
characteristics in the conceptualization of the welfare state.
SESSION 3g
Occupational Incorporation of Immigrants in Western European Countries
*Anastasia Gorodzeisky, Juan March Institute, Spain
Moshe Semyonov, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
The major goal of the present paper is to study patterns of occupational attainment and occupational incorporation of immigrants in
Western European countries. Using data from the European Social Survey for 15 West European countries we examine the extent to which
time spent in the host country, socio-demographic attributes, ethnicity and religious affiliation affect the integration of immigrants into
the occupational system of the host country. The data analysis is performed separately for men and women. The analysis reveals similar
patterns across the 15 countries. In general, occupational status of both immigrants and native born Europeans tends to increase with
educational level, with age and with urban residence. It also tends to be higher among married men but not among married women. The
analysis further reveals that immigrants, whether men or women, are disadvantaged in attainment of occupational positions as compared
to the native populations but experience upward mobility with the passage of time in the host country. That is, the occupational status of
immigrants, whether men or women, is lower than the occupational status of native born even after taking into consideration differences
in socio-demographic attributes such as education and marital status. However, the occupational disadvantage of immigrants tends to be
lower among second generation immigrants than among first generation immigrants and it tends to decline with passage of years in the
host countries. Yet, some meaningful differences among sub-groups of immigrants are observed. Specifically, among men, immigrants of
non-European origin and of the Muslim conviction remain occupationally disadvantaged even in the second generation despite
considerable educational gains. Among women, , however, non-Europeans and Muslims are in fact advantaged in attainment of
occupational status as compared to native born women; second generation non-Muslim and European immigrants although not
advantaged in attainment of occupational status, are found to close the entire occupational status gap with native born European women.
The findings and their meaning are evaluated and discussed in light of sociological theories of immigrant assimilation and ethnic
inequality in society.
Residential Segregation and Spatial Assimilation among Immigrants in European Societies
Anya Glikman, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
*Moshe Semyonov, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
The influx of immigrants and labor migrants during the second half of the previous century had changed the ethnic fabric of many
European cities. Currently, most West-European metropolitan centers are characterized by distinct-segregated ethnic neighborhoods.
Whereas patterns of segregation and spatial assimilation have been studied extensively and for quite long time in American society, the
body of research on immigrants' segregation and spatial assimilation in European societies is relatively new and small. The present
research provides the first systematic examination of patterns of spatial segregation among immigrants across 13 European countries.
Using data from the 2003 European Social Survey we examine the extent to which patterns of residential segregation and spatial
assimilation are influenced by immigrants' tenure in the host country, socio economic characteristics, preferences for residential location,
and ethnic and cultural origin. Ordinal-logit analysis reveals that ethnic residential segregation is quite prevalent in Western Europe.
Although immigrants go through a process of spatial assimilation due to acculturation and economic mobility, the patterns vary
considerably across ethnic and cultural groups. Specifically, rate of residential assimilation among immigrants from Asian or African
countries is considerably lower than that among immigrants from European countries. Likewise, Muslims are more spatially segregated
than other immigrants. While preferences for residential location and perceived discrimination cannot account for residential segregation
among Asian immigrants, high rates of residential segregation and low rates of spatial assimilation among Muslims and African
immigrants could be attributed to their relatively greater preference to reside in ethnic neighborhoods and to their perception of
discrimination.
The socio-economic integration of second-generation minority ethnic groups in Great Britain and the USA (1990-2000)
Yaojun Li, The University of Manchester, UK
Both Britain and the USA have seen large influxes of non-white immigrants in the large fifty years and an increasing proportion of the
populations in both countries are the second-generation who have come of age and are active in the labour market. How well the ‘new
second generation’ do in their educational and occupational attainment will have an enormous impact on the social integration and the
democratic processes of the two countries.
There are long-standing debates on the social fluidity of the British and the American social structure (the British sclerosis versus
American Exceptionalism) and on the trajectories of the second-generational socio-economic integration (the straight-line versus the
segmented assimilation theories). Although some studies have been carried out on social mobility in the two countries (Erikson and
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