Levels of Social Integration of Internally Displaced Persons in the Host Community

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to present the results of an empirical study on the level of social integration of internally displaced persons in the host community. Social integration is seen as an active process involving both parties: migrants and the host population. The process is continuous, so the focus is on the degree of integration of internally displaced persons, reflected at three levels, high, medium and low. The degree of social integration of IDPs in the local community is an aggregate indicator of socio-economic, socio-psychological, cultural-communicative and socio-political elements. The study applied a set of standardised methods, as well as correlation, factor and variance analysis (Fisher’s criterion). The results show a positive tendency for integration by the vast majority of internally displaced persons who participated in the study: only 26 respondents (12.9%) had a low level, 121 respondents (60.2%) had a medium level, and 54 respondents had a high level (26.9%).