Analysis of Academic Studies on the Integration of Immigrants

What is it about?

This research analyzed the literature on integration, assimilation, and other concepts related to displaced persons and refugees as experienced in their host countries. The author conducted a computer-assisted content analysis of related articles appearing in the Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index – Expanded, and Emerging Sources Citation Index and published from January of 1998 to September of 2018.

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Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash

Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The results of this research revealed that sociological articles comprised 11% of the academic studies (298 of 2,673). The results indicate that academic work regarding the integration of displaced persons encompasses many different concepts, dimensions, and approaches in a diverse collection of countries. Currently, there is no commonly held view of the meaning of integration or other related concepts. The current body of research focuses primarily on organizational and structural topics like housing, health, education, the labor force, identity, and language, instead of human-based topics such as social capital, community participation, and networks of displaced persons that recognize them as public actors (49 of 298 sociological articles). Integration studies of displaced persons almost doubled in number after 2015, the time of the most recent migrant crisis. This review argues that a common conceptual and theoretical framework needs to be put forward that expands the current body of research on human-based topics.

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