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Multiculturalism versus Assimilation: Attitudes towards Immigrants in Western Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Vani K. Borooah

    (University of Ulster, School of Economics and Politics, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland)

  • John Mangan

    (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia)

Abstract
A long standing area of debate in Western countries is that of the appropriate philosophy for facilitating large scale immigration; should immigrants preserve their traditions and culture while living in the host country (integration/multiculturalism) or should they assimilate themselves into the ways and manners of their hosts? The ways that nations go about resolving this issue goes to the heart of internal policy formulation on immigration but is also influential to the image that the country projects overseas. Countries are often labeled according to the official views of their Governments. For example, France might be classed as essentially assimilationist and Britain as multi-cultural, whereas the Netherlands and Germany might be seen as somewhere between the two, but how did these policy differences come about and do they accurately reflect the views of the majority of residents of the various countries? This paper addresses part of this issue by seeking to identify and analyse the characteristics of those people in Western countries who think that immigrants should assimilate culturally and how they differ from those who think that immigrants should preserve a separate cultural existence? By doing so, it seeks to explain why these inter-country differences in views exist and whether they are caused primarily by attribute effects (the composition of the population) or by coefficient effects (the strength of the views they hold). This study exploits a unique set of data provided by The Human Beliefs and Values Survey to identify and to estimate the strength of those factors which lead people to favour cultural integration over multiculturalism for immigrants. In doing so, it provides Governments with a snapshot of contemporary views on this increasingly important issue and how these views may shift as demographic characteristics alter.

Suggested Citation

  • Vani K. Borooah & John Mangan, 2009. "Multiculturalism versus Assimilation: Attitudes towards Immigrants in Western Countries," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH), Kavala Campus, Greece, vol. 2(2), pages 33-50, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:tei:journl:v:2:y:2009:i:2:p:33-50
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    File URL: https://ijbesar.af.duth.gr/docs/volume2_issue2/multiculturalism.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Card, 2005. "Is the New Immigration Really so Bad?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(507), pages 300-323, November.
    2. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    3. Hanson, Gordon H., 2005. "Why Does Immigration Divide America? Public Finance and Political Opposition to Open Borders," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 4000, April.
    4. Borooah, Vani & Iyer, Sriya, 2005. "The Decomposition of Inter-Group Differences in a Logit Model: Extending the Oaxaca-Blinder Approach with an Application to School Enrolment in India," MPRA Paper 19418, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Nielsen, Helena Skyt, 1998. "Discrimination and detailed decomposition in a logit model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 115-120, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigrants; Multiculturalism; Assimilation; Western Countries; Logit; Decomposition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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