(SOM4d) Sociology of Migration: Social and cultural integration of immigrants

In immigration research, integration refers to how parts of the immigrant experience come together and facilitate the incorporation of immigrants into their new society.  Emphasis often is on how cultural and social integration intersect – eliciting questions such as: how is the participation of immigrants in the major institutions influenced by existing beliefs, behaviours, and material goods (and vice versa) and by the changes in these cultural characteristics? This session focuses on the dynamics of cultural and social integration, calling attention to 5 papers that study: 1) the impacts of four environments during COVID on economic hardship; 2) the importance of cultural orientation on the social integration of immigrants; 3) the importance of different levels of assets, ranging from the individual level to a larger environmental scale; 4) differences between immigrant generations in dwelling satisfaction, with a specific focus on South Asians and other groups such as the Chinese and whites. Tags: Migration and Immigration, Policy

Organizers: Lisa Kaida, McMaster University, Lori Wilkinson, University of Manitoba, Monica Boyd, University of Toronto; Chair: Max Stick, Mount Saint Vincent

Presentations

Fernando Mata, University of Ottawa

Economic Hardships in Pandemic Times: A Look at Canadian and Foreign-Born Led Households in Sanitary Environments

Using information from selected public health interventions and a sample of approximately 38,000 respondents to the Canadian Household survey, this study examined the economic hardships experienced by Canadian and foreign-born led households residing in various sanitary environments during the first half of 2021. Pandemics such as COVID-19 in Canada had a wide range of health, social and economic consequences related to both the spread of the disease and the efforts made by public health agencies attempting to contain it. To mitigate the impact of the virus, during 2020 and 2022, Canadian public health agencies intervened in domains of social life such as the travel and movement of individuals, boundaries of physical contact, vaccinations, surveillance of symptoms and the expansion of local powers via declarations of states of emergency (Zheng at al., 2020, Hsiao‑Hui et al., 2020). As a direct consequence of these health interventions various COVID-19 sanitary environments were created and enforced. These environments are said to have provided a broad "non-pharmaceutical" context where social interactions were strictly regulated (Douglas et al., 2020, Ferguson et.al, 2020; Deschamps, 2020; Hardy and Logan, 2020, Pezenik, 2020; Shaefer et al., 2020). Four typical sanitary environments created and enforced by provincial and territorial governments during the pandemic period were identified. These environments, which differed in terms of their focal areas of work, were respectively named: SE1: Travel Restrictions and Lockdowns, SE2: Aboriginal and Municipal Welfare, SE3: Crowd Size and Pandemic Information, and SE4: Regional Welfare and Vaccinations The first ones, SE1 type of environments were more predominant in the Prairie provinces and British Columbia, SE2 in the Territories and Atlantic provinces, SE3 in Ontario, and SE4 in Quebec and Newfoundland. The study found that regardless of residence in a particular sanitary environment, visible minority immigrant-led households were among those that experienced the highest level of economic hardships. Multivariate data analysis also found that the effect of immigrant status was mostly attributable to the visible minority status of many immigrants and that of residence in particular sanitary environments disappeared in the presence of other household-related covariates such as income levels, general health and/or renter status of the household lead. Although the economic hardships experienced by Canadians may not be directly attributed to public health interventions, from a psycho-social viewpoint, the rapid pace of interventions may have produced unintended consequences such as creating more anxieties about collective wellbeing and the economic survival of the population at large. Pinpointing the specific associations between public health environments and well-being outcomes in the Canadian population during the pandemic, however, requires the help of more specialized surveys addressing these specific issues.

Reza Nakhaie, University of Windsor

Importance of Individual and Environmental Assets for Newcomers' Socio-cultural Integration

To assess socio-cultural integration of newcomers by attending to the strength and weaknesses of their individual and community assets. Integration is often conceptualized as a two-way street that requires accommodation of both Canadians and immigrants. However, the focus is often on what immigrants can do for Canada and not what Canada can do for immigrants. In this paper, we focus on both newcomers’ individual and environmental assets. Analyses are based on administrative data collected by the YMCA of South-Western Ontario regarding 1,144 of their clients pre and post Covid19. Analyses suggest that newcomers possess more individual assets than environmental assets. Individual assets are mainly influenced by length in Canada, higher education, and health while environmental assets are primarily influenced by social support and education. Language ability is also important for both types of assets but about twice more for individual than environmental assets. Finally, individual assets are about three times more important than community assets in influencing newcomers’ socio-cultural integration. Canadian communities need to be more welcoming and institutions more open to newcomers, enhancing their assets which would be useful for their integration.

Harkiran Singh, York University

Is Immigrants' Social Integration Influenced by Source Country? Examining the Relationship Between Social Integration and Individualism-Collectivism in Canada

The social integration of immigrants in Canada has been debated by researchers; few studies, however, have looked at the implications of cultural orientation backgrounds of immigrants’ source countries on social integration outcomes. Frideres (2008) and Wu, Hou, Schimmele (2010) describe social integration as “the participation of immigrants in the institutions of the host country”, leading to their adaptation to the norms and social practices of Canadian society. Reitz et al. (2009) have explored some variety of immigrants’ various source country attributes, like religious background or ethnic identities, that may influence immigrants’ social integration and social connectedness. Few studies, however, have looked at the influence of cultural orientation backgrounds to the process of social integration. Okeke-Ihejrika and Salami’s (2018) analysis provides insight into the importance of cultural orientation of immigrants, showing that immigrants are experiencing lower levels of social cohesion and trust with the host society because of both a lack of ‘cultural’ connectedness and a clash in values orientation with Canadian society. Thus, immigrants in Canada may be experiencing barriers in their social integration beyond their religious and ethnic backgrounds, such that their trust building with the host society, and therefore participation in social institutions, may be influenced by the differences in cultural or values orientation with Canadian society. By acknowledging these cultural differences in attitudes and values that diverse groups of immigrants have, Canadian society can work towards immigrants’ social integration and provide a better life for immigrants. This paper proposes the influence of cultural orientation as a new element to expand the understanding of social integration of immigrants originating from diverse backgrounds. Analyzing the data from the Ethnic Diversity Survey (2002), combined with the information on cultural orientation from the GLOBE project (2004), this analysis seeks to understand the effect of immigrants’ values orientation (individualist/collectivist) on their general trust of Canadian society. Results show that immigrants originating from highly collectivist backgrounds have lower odds of trusting native-born Canadians as compared to immigrants originating from low collectivist backgrounds. Insight into the influence of cultural orientation of immigrants improves the understanding of social integration, one that extends beyond factors such as ethnicity and religion that have been examined in previous research.

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Non-presenting author: Yoko Yoshida, Western University

Sumi Sasudevan, McMaster University

Dwelling Satisfaction among South Asian Immigrants and Immigrant Offspring in Canada

Although immigrants’ success in the labour market contributes to the receiving country’s prosperity and economy, it is equally important to consider migrants’ integration. Integration to the receiving country not only contributes to immigrants’ well-being but ensures the retention and permanence of immigrants to their adopted country (Berry and Hou 2016). Spatial assimilation, one of the dimensions of immigrant assimilation, deems the spatial distribution of certain racial and ethnic groups as a reflection of their resources and the state of their economic and social assimilation (Gordon 1964; Massey and Denton 1985). Life satisfaction is extensively studied in migration research in Canada, where immigrant high life satisfaction levels have stayed consistent for decades (Frank et al. 2014; Chow 2007). Studies also examine life satisfaction in relation to homeownership and housing characteristics where the homeownership and residential choice represents perceived control and self-esteem (Mahmood et al. 2011; Rohe and Stegman 1994). I argue dwelling satisfaction is linked with life satisfaction, as satisfaction with the home represents agency and control, which in turn impacts life satisfaction. However, dwelling satisfaction, which is linked to aspects of life satisfaction, are understudied in migration research. I extend immigrant life satisfaction research by considering dwelling satisfaction as a more local perspective of life satisfaction. The purpose of this study is to 1) analyse the differences in dwelling satisfaction between immigrant/ immigrant offspring generations in Canada with a specific focus on South Asians and other ethno-racial groups such as Chinese and Whites, 2) compare the regional differences in dwelling satisfaction between generations among South Asians and other ethno-racial groups in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta, and 3) assess the impact of housing tenure on dwelling satisfaction based on generational status among South Asians and other ethno-racial groups. This study will contribute to the field of migration in three ways. First, it updates the existing literature on spatial assimilation in Canada, which has stalled since the mid-2000s. Second, it provides a new way to capture a more local level of life satisfaction, dwelling satisfaction, by bridging urban studies and migration research. Finally, this study focuses on South Asians, which is the largest visible minority group in Canada. Quantitative research on South Asians is lacking in Canada, with limited studies on their general integration patterns. Using the 2021 Canadian Housing Survey (CHS) data, I conduct regression analysis to assess variations in dwelling satisfaction by immigrant generations among South Asians and other ethno-racial groups such as Chinese, Blacks and Whites. The CHS data contains information on Canadians’ relationships to their dwelling, including housing conditions and satisfaction. My population of interest are three ethno-racial groups: South Asians, Chinese, and Whites divided by generational status (1st generation immigrants, 1.5 generation immigrants and the Canadian born). My main dependent variables are overall dwelling satisfaction, and two scale dwelling satisfaction variables that were created using factor analysis: dwelling satisfaction based on energy efficiency/infrastructure, and dwelling satisfaction based on comfort of the home. The main independent variables are ethno-nativity status, housing tenure and provinces. Preliminary results indicate satisfaction varies by region and tenure, but there is also some variation by ethnicity and generational status. South Asians have similar levels of dwelling satisfaction to the mainstream Whites, compared to Chinese, who have the lowest dwelling satisfaction among the three groups. However, there is little variation among generations within these ethno-racial groups. South Asians in British Columbia are generally satisfied with their dwelling compared to those in other provinces and other ethno-racial groups. However, Chinese and Whites are more satisfied in Alberta than their counterparts in Ontario and BC. When housing tenure is controlled for, homeowners are generally more satisfied than renters. However, some exceptions exist; South Asians are more satisfied with the energy efficiency of their rented dwelling in Alberta compared to their homeowner counterparts. Similarly, 1.5 generation Chinese who rent in Ontario are more satisfied with their dwelling than their homeowner counterparts. For future analysis, I will examine how the relationship between satisfaction, tenure and province varies by controlling for demographic variables such as household income, gender, marital status, family structure, and neighbourhood contextual variables, such as neighbourhood services, community satisfaction, and sense of belonging.