Dimensions and determinants of immigrant integration: the role of origin and settlement

Eleonora Mussino, Stockholm University
Salvatore Strozza, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II
Laura Terzera, Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca

The difficulty of arriving at a definition of the concept of fully shared integration of immigrants certainly has not been exceeded; the debate is still open, even if there is the common consensus on the dynamic and multidimensional nature of this important social process. Starting from the literature, this paper aims to define a reasonable indicator of the immigrant’s integration in the host country. Promoting the idea that the integration is a two way process, where both the immigrants and the context of arrival are involved, the results of this paper will not only contributes on measure the immigrant’s integration, but it will also underline the importance of the nested structure of the subject of interest. Using the sample survey promoted by the Foundation ISMU, the aim of this paper is to study the impact of individual and contextual characteristics on the levels of integration of immigrants in Italy.