Assimilation, Multiculturalism or Unity-In-Diversity? Normative Conceptions of Integration and Their Determinants Among Majority and Minority Citizens in Germany

In times of rising numbers of immigrant-origin citizens, the term integration has become highly contested. What does it mean to integrate an individual into society? The amount of theoretical concepts and studies is vast. In general, they propose plenty of meanings. On the one hand, some authors perceive integration in terms of assimilation, meaning the complete alignment of minorities to the majority population (e.g. Park and Burgess 1921). On the other hand, others connect integration to the concept of multiculturalism which denotes a long-term coexistence of different attitudes, values, and beliefs (e.g. Taylor 1992). Both conceptions are highly contested and can be perceived as extremes on the integration spectrum. More recent conceptions perceive integration as unity-in-diversity (e.g. Fleras and Elliott 2002) and emphasise the importance of shared common values in combination with the retention of one’s own cultural background. Recently, the term integration has become increasingly politicized. Leftist parties take a more multicultural approach towards integration, emphasizing the duty of both -- the receiving society and immigrants -- to adapt to each other, whereas conservative and right wing populist parties take more assimilationist views emphasizing that integration is a one-way process where immigrants have to subordinate their values and habits to the German status-quo (Westlake 2016). So far, the perspective of citizens themselves is missing. However, to know what people have in mind when they talk about integration is important for societal cohesion. For example, diverging expectations about what natives and foreigners ought to do for living together can promote social conflict. If the majority population holds assimilationist views of integration but the immigrant population perceives integration as a process that also takes effort from the majority, societal problems might arise. We thus ask what perceptions of integration exist in the general population and whether these perceptions differ between majority and minority citizens. Furthermore, we analyse which factors relate to perceptions of integration, such as socio-demographic variables (including national and ethnic identity) as well as political variables (party identification, left-right self-placement). We rely on a novel data set from an Online-Survey that was fielded by YouGov in Germany in October 2019. It includes an open-ended question on the meaning of integration and a closed-ended question for the evaluation of the integration term (positive vs. negative) for both majority (n = 1,500) and immigrant-origin (n = 1,000) German voters. About 1,730 of the ~2,500 participants provided at least one valid answer. We coded the answers by using a deductively developed coding scheme, relying on two different coders. We estimate multivariate regression models to determine the relationship between different factors and facets of integration perceptions to see which role ethnic background and political attitudes play.