Immigrants' attitudes toward integration and citizenship in Germany, 1970-2000

Abstract

Over the last 50 years many OECD countries have attracted large numbers of foreign immigrants. Faced with record inflows, increasingly from non-western countries, even traditional immigrant countries, such as the USA, are worried about their abilities to integrate the newcomers and are re-examining their immigration policies. This paper uses high quality data sets of five major immigrant groups in Germany to study how immigrants’ attitudes toward immigration may have changed over the last thirty years. This is particularly interesting time period, because it coincides with significant political change in Western Europe, culminating so far with the creation of the European Union and European citizenship for citizens of member countries.