Abstract
The recent significant inflow of international migrants into rural areas in Europe has raised questions about the integration of migrants into the rural host localities. Amidst the growing literature, there are, however, few comprehensive analyses of processes of migrants’ social integration. Drawing on the lived experience of Polish migrants in a rural area in Norway and applying the theoretical framework of social exposures, the article illustrates the important role of the migrants’ position on the local labour market, the socio-demographics of the receiving locality and the material and geographical properties of the area for the dynamics of their social integration. Findings show how migrants’ desires to engage in migrant/non-migrant relationships are challenged by the increasingly ethnically divided local labour market, amidst growing migration to the location and by the geographical structure of the locality. The changing and intersecting character of those domains fosters conditions that promote primarily social exposure of the migrants to their own co-ethnics, isolating them from the local community. At the same time, the study illustrates that mutual engagement of the migrants and the local inhabitants, as well as having children, play a significant role in diversifying migrants’ local social contacts.
Highlights
One of the relatively recent components of intraEuropean patterns of migration is the spatial differentiation of migrant destinations that highlights the role of non-urban areas as receiving contexts (Jentsch, 2007; McAreavey, 2017; Robinson, 2010; Winders, 2014; Woods, 2016)
In contrast to urban areas that share a long tradition of hosting international migrants, a defining characteristic of many rural areas across Europe is that they have so far limited if any experience with international migration
With an overall increase of the share of European population living in urban areas (Eurostat, 2016), many rural regions have become vulnerable to population decline (Pinilla et al, 2008; Stockdale, 2004)
Summary
Considering the pace of socio-demographic change in rural locations, a better comprehension of the multifarious character of integration of international migrants in those areas is high on the research agenda (Jentsch and Simard, 2009; Rye and Scott, 2018). Acknowledging the problematic character of integration processes as described in the migration literature, this article addresses three questions concerning migrants’ social integration in rural areas. In this article, these three aspects of migrants’ lives in a rural location will be discussed as processes of social exposures. These three aspects of migrants’ lives in a rural location will be discussed as processes of social exposures This refers to the conditions that either promote or obstruct migrants’ possibilities to develop and maintain social relationships (Bissell, 2013; Erdal and Lewicki, 2016; Van Tubergen, 2006). The last part connects the discussed aspects and addresses the contribution of the study to the existing literature
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