Acculturation in Western Europe

authored by

Colette Sabatier, Karen Phalet, Peter F. Titzmann

Abstract

Western Europe has a long tradition of receiving immigrants and of dealing with the cultural diversity of its population. Countries belonging to the European Union make efforts to coordinate their policies for accepting newcomers and to treat those on European territory with dignity. Due to rapid socioeconomic and sociopolitical changes in the world, European societies have experienced unprecedented immigration, resulting in the current “superdiverse” population of Europe, which pose new challenges (Berry & Sam, 2013). While the European Union has developed directives with a view to coordinating the national immigration and integration policies of its member states, European countries differ substantially in how they deal with immigration and diversity, in their views regarding the (re)settlement of newcomers, their acceptance of diversity in many aspects of daily life and in their views about the core of the European identity. Over the last two decades, there have been two main changes in acculturation research in Western Europe. First is a focus on the mutual and interactive features of the process involving both the newcomers and the national population. The European Union explicitly asserts that the settlement and adaptation of migrants is a two-way process, with all residents needing to be involved in changing in order to achieve the integration of newcomers (Council of European Union, 2004). The second is a focus on the second generation in addition to the earlier attention paid to acculturation of the first generation of immigrants. Despite the long tradition of most Western European countries of receiving immigrants and offering immigrant youth the possibility to be educated and socialized into the receiving society through schools and public education, the question of their integration as full members of the receiving society is a challenge for most European countries. Three chapters of the first edition of this Handbook (Phalet & Kosic, 2006; Sabatier & Boutry, 2006; Westin, 2006) presented information on the diversity of the contexts for acculturation and adaptation of immigrants across European countries. They also pointed out the need to fully understand the specific views of European societies about coexistence of different cultural groups within the same nation and to take into consideration the full range of issues, such as workforce immigration, family reunion, return migration (e.g., Aussiedler), as well as highly qualified professionals and exchange students.

External Organisation(s)

KU Leuven
Utrecht University
Universität Zürich (UZH)

Type

Contribution to book/anthology

Pages

417-438

No. of pages

22

Publication date

2016

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Psychology

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316219218.024 (Access: Closed)