The Figure of the Alienated Migrant “Integrating” into (European) Society

In recent years migration scholars have become increasingly reflexive and critical of otherwise commonly used concepts in migration studies. “Integration” has, for example, been argued to reproduce assimilationist ideas of alienated outsiders incorporating into an insider group – a critique which, although less frequently discussed, also applies to the concept of “inclusion”. This presentation grapples with some of the historical and theoretical underpinnings of the related terms “integration” and “inclusion” with regards to migrants’ experiences of alienation on the labour market and at the workplace. In addition to a theoretical discussion, empirical examples are also given from an interview study and observations conducted in Sweden with Syrian refugee engineers, in which their personal experiences are highlighted.

The paper adopts a theoretical perspective not found in previous discussions concerning these concepts by using a critical realist framework of structure and agency. This perspective helps us uncover how the discourse of “integration” and “inclusion” has led to the creation of social structures and norm circles which reproduce alienating labour market and workplace structures. These operate under the assumption that (outsider) migrants need to “integrate” into the (insider) “host society”. These structures have real life effects on how practitioners, as well as migrants themselves, view integration and alienation.