Introduction: Immigration, diversity and social cohesion

Abstract

Concerns about the social cohesion of societies are by no means a new phenom enon in politics. And, at least since Durkheim, social scientists have emphasized the need for commonalities between people to underpin collective action and solidar ity. Nevertheless, while not a new concern, it is striking how prominent social cohesion discourses have become in contemporary politics in the West. To a large extent this focus can be seen as a response to immigration and the resulting increased levels of ethnic diversity. Thus, worries are raised about a loss of feelings of togetherness, parallel societies, lack of integration of ethnic minorities in the educational system and on the job market, radicalization, the subjection of women, and more generally cultural practices that are incompatible with the liberal values of the majority population. In fact, concerns about social cohesion have been raised at all levels of the immigration process. Such concerns are at the heart of current immigration policies in the EU countries, where the influx of immigrants is controlled to what are regarded as 'manageable' levels that allow minorities to be integrated, politically, socially and culturally. In some cases, asylum for refugees is specifically granted on the basis of the 'potential for integration' of the individual refugee, and large efforts are made to control immigration into the EU from Africa through FRONTEX the EU agency for securing Europe's external borders. Immigration, especially of the kind that causes ethnic diversity, is considered a potential threat to European security and peaceful co-existence based on liberal values. Likewise, a worry that is