Integration for foreign youth

The project aims at carrying out systematic analyses of integration with respect to foreigner`s children in Austria. A total of 1,000 foreign youngsters (16 - 26 years old), either born here or having attended Austrian schools from first grade, are to be investigated. The study facilitates an investigation of specific problems on the basis of a control group consisting of native adolescents (n=400) coming from similar social milieus. Integration is defined as adaptation in key spheres of life. Its major dimension consists in acts of social positioning in terms of education, occupation and social networks. These objective conditions determine psychosocial adaptation to a large extent. In agreement with dominant theories, values, ideologies, feelings of collective affiliation and certain patterns of behavior (summarized as "identity" construct) are considered as a function of structural integration factors. Following the theory, that the integration process is to be seen as a continuum maintaining between two poles - marginalization/exclusion and complete assimilation - our approach develops types that represent different sections of this continuum. In particular, controversial theories of cultural assimilation are to be examined; a causal connection between successful occupational and social positioning is assumed, yet these two do not determine (complete) identificative assimilation - forms of "mixed identity" are to be expected as "normal". The interactive effects of specific living conditions, subjective experiences and reactions are examined under the aspect of problem accumulations in an attempt to ascertain different milieu effects. Only specific problem constellations are to be considered as the deeper-lying causes of disintegration. The key issues (variables) refer to: - vocational training and labor (professional biographies, working conditions) - contact situations (family, school/working place, peers), interethnic contacts (conflicts) - aspirations and evaluations of opportunities; experienced discrimination and reactions - identifications, evaluations of rules and ways of life in both cultures, values and central orientations (e.g. religious /secular, universalistic and democratic orientations, nationalism) "Reethnification" and marginalization as well as assimilation resp. mixed culturalness are to be investigated as a function of successful integration into various areas of life.

The "Integration of Second-Generation Foreign Youth" study focused on the following research issues: Which educational qualifications and occupational positions have been acquired? What kind of social networks have the youngsters established? And which feelings of affiliation and value orientations have they developed? It was shown that the hypothesis of more or less automatic steps of integration - structural integration leading to opened contact spheres, seen as "social capital", and to cultural identification - does not correspond to reality. Our analysis of accomplished educational positions indicated that, apart from social origin, especially the concentration of foreign youth in schools has an impact; specific characteristics of the milieu, such as language use at home or interethnic contacts, are less prominent with respect to these factors. Regional inequality was also influential (educational achievements outside of Vienna are worse, resulting from a smaller quantity of high- schools in the vicinity). With a view on occupational positions, youth in positions of employment have been able to improve their situation as compared to their fathers, who are concentrated in the lowest positions; however, the low status of unqualified work was "inherited" in one third of the cases. Social integration in a large number of second-generation youth has been less successful in view of the strong closeness of friendly contacts. Subjective integration - feeling "at home" in Austria - is also seen as rather problematic (even though remarkable differences do exist as to countries of origin). Open contact spheres and feelings of affinity with Austrian society are made difficult particularly with parents` emphasis on ethnic orientation. However, only a minority of youth lives in a milieu in which ethnic characteristics are bundled to form a "closed" milieu, e.g. great importance attached to religion, ethnically homogeneous contacts, predominance of one`s mother tongue at home and in media consumption. Among most youngsters, the structural and cultural circumstances of one`s concrete surroundings are intertwined with individual ethnic elements. "Life between cultures" thus takes place. Neither do the young live in an ethnic ghetto, nor in a largely assimilated milieu. Two important, critical issues that make measures necessary should be pointed out. A strong impact of social class affiliation was identified in the field of education, associated with the problem of disproportional migrant student quota. Exemplified by the negative influences of ethnically marked parental milieus, parents must be given more positive incentives for their own active steps toward integration.