Maneuvering as an integration strategy among immigrants

Abstract

Analysis of the integration strategies followed by migrants provides good insight into the process of integration and helps with understanding the interaction between migrants and the receiving society. This approach integrates the micro, the meso and the macro levels of social scientific analysis because migrants face social challenges at different levels and their survival strategies are reactions to this whole intertwined complex. I propose to approach the integration of the migrants by investigating their techniques of maneuvering. Most migrants try to maximize their contact with the receiving community. Even those who live in rather segregated ethnic enclaves maintain some basic contacts with the surrounding world. In this paper I present the results of an analysis of narrative and semi-structured interviews conducted with immigrants who are living in Hungary and focus on the ‘slalom’ nature of the technique they follow in trying to avoid the integrationrelated traps in bureaucratic processes, the labour market and social life in general.