Multicultural Modes of Immigrants' Integration into the Host Society: Exploring the Proposition

Abstract

In this essay, I argue that in addition to the acknowledged modes of immigrants' integration into receiver societies, such as straight-line or segmented assimilation, 'bumpy' incorporation, and ethnicization as the mixing and blending of home and host country ways of life, we should recognize the possibility of multicultural paths of newcomers' adaptation to the sociocultural environments of the host-country. I begin by defining what I mean by a multicultural trajectory of immigrants' integration as a pluri-dimensional process founded on the base-line orientation, which Lyn Lofland called 'civility towards diversity', emphasizing its inherently variegated forms and 'contents'. Next, I present some empirical illustrations of local settings where multicultural modes of immigrants' incorporation are likely to evolve. Finally, drawing from studies of inter-cultural encounters, I identify the main features of the surrounding society and the individuals involved, which contribute to the emergence of these modes of integration.