Cultural Origins and Immigrant Integration in the West: Towards Emergence of Ethnically Divided Societies?

by Adam Bilinski

The book is the most comprehensive scholarly overview of the immigrant integration in the Western countries. It evaluates integration of immigrants and their descendants depending on their cultural characteristics, such as religion or national origin. It assesses social, economic, and cultural integration. It covers such topics as immigrants’ income, employment, religiosity, values, delinquency, residence, or friendship and intermarriage with Westerners. It also analyses mutual attitudes between Westerners and immigrants (including discrimination), and the consequences of immigrant admission mode (e.g. work vs. refugee protection). Particular attention is devoted to Muslim immigrants. Geographically, the book covers Western Europe in general and major Western countries in more detail (the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Canada, and the Netherlands). The findings come from original research based on surveys and the summary of the relevant academic literature. The work concludes that immigration of some groups, particularly Muslims, has resulted in the emergence of permanent ethnic-like divisions in the West with negative consequences for social cohesion, support for welfare state, and public goods provision. The work completes with a short analysis of Western immigration policies and considerations for their change.

622 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2021

About the author

I am a college instructor in Political Science currently teaching at the Pittsburg State University in the US. I was raised in Poland and graduated from the University of Warsaw in 2006. I completed my PhD at the University of Florida (go Gators!) in 2015. I am interested in regime transitions, democratization, and immigrant integration. In 2021, I completed my first book, "Cultural Origins and Immigrant Integration in the West," which is the most comprehensive academic overview of the immigrant integration in the Western societies. The book is based both on my original research and summary of the literature on the topic. It is written in a way accessible to an average educated reader. It turned out somewhat too long for most academic presses - that's why it is published independently I hope you'll enjoy it!

Reviews

[Jacek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dispels myths and clears popular misconceptions regarding socioeconomic and cultural integration of immigrants to Western countries. The author's statements in the book are backed by facts, statistics and a plethora of research. The book combines unprecedented, in-depth coverage of the subject with clear, comprehensible writing style. Definitely a must have for anyone willing to explore this fascinating and relevant topic.

[Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is impressive. The quantity of the facts and statistics is combined with an insightful analysis of several important factors. As such, it is a must read and a great source of knowledge for any scholar interested in the subject. The author offers his interpretations and opinions about the implications of all facts and figures, but avoids a common pitfall of being too judgemental or too simplistic. Indeed, the phenomenon of immigration is not a linear one, but one laden with many parallel or even contradictory factors interacting. Dr. Bilinski sees them and presents them very well.

The ''Volume II'' of this Opus might deal with new phenomena and profound changes which have occcured over the past several years. Some countries of Central Europe are in better socio-economic shape than some of the Western Countries in terms of many metrics such as unemployment rates or economic growth, or public safety, or cleanliness of cities etc. As a consequence they themselves become receipients of immigrants. Poland is a good example as a country which in 2019 granted more work permits and legal status to foreign citizens than Germany and France combined, yet it has done it (for policy reasons) in a selective way, primarily to citizens of its Eastern Neighbours rather then immigrants from Africa or Middle East.

Obviously immigration is not an all-explanatory factor of society analysis. Perhaps, acute economic stratification of Western nation-states, alienation of elites from lower classes and finally an emergence of supra-national elites in the fields such as technology or finance create more dangers today than traditional problems stemming from immigration cultural mismatches?

In any case, Dr. Bilinski's book will stay as an indispensable source of knowledge, understanding as well as foundation for future research.

[Grzegorz Stepniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to overview this book, but I must say it really gives a very comprehensive analysis of how the integration of immigrants has proceeded in Western countries. The authors' work clearly explains the relations between religion, immigrant background, and integration (or a lack of). This really seems to have been a benedictine work of the author to crawl through all the databases and draw conclusions based on a solid statistical analysis of the data. I liked that you can find facts about the matter for all major countries. I might not agree with all the author's conclusions about immigration policy changes, but if you want to find out how immigration has affected Western countries, this is definitely a position to have.

[Martin Halla · Rating 5 out of 5]

The work is a comprehensive overview of the process of immigrant
integration in Western countries and the consequences of immigration.
Topically, the author describes both cultural aspects of integration,
such as intermarriage, and socioeconomic aspects, such as income and
employment. Most of the text is the summary of the existing
literature, but it also includes some original research based on
surveys. Although I do not necessarily agree with all the author's
conclusions, I can recommend it for anyone interested in the topic of
immigrant integration. You can find all key information on the topic
in one text.

Martin Halla
University of Linz, Austria

[Wie Nig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Książka wyczerpująco przedstawia temat imigracji do krajów Zachodu i jest godna polecenia dla wszystkich zainteresowanych tematem!
I appreciate the author's insight as it gives me a comprehensive and clear picture on the complex issue of immigration to the West. I've been waiting for a long time for that.

[Gregory Lebkowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always thought that most immigrants harm themselves by having hard time adapting to the new environment, harm their homelands by depriving them of the most talented and vigorous people and harm the welcoming countries by imposing an additional burden on their home problems. Now, after reading this book I realized I was right.

[Anna Popkowska · Rating 5 out of 5]

The topic of modern-day immigration to the West is much more complex than I have ever thought before. This bok is a real eye-opener on these issues and I would recommend it warmly to anyone interested in the topic, not only from among scholars.

[Paulina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive analysis of immigration history in Western Europe based on thorough research that reveals important trends and complexity in the adaptation process of different societies. Very interesting.

[Jerzy Janczak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Bilinski, you have done a wonderful job! Your book is based on incredibly thorough and deep research with extensive information material. Your scientific analysis of the immigration phenomenon is impressive and the conclusion is very convincing. Congratulations.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author provides a very thorough analysis of immigrant integration in Western Europe and the consequences it has brought. He does well at providing statistical analysis to support his claims. For anyone interested in this topic, I highly recommend this book!

[Margaret Putia · Rating 5 out of 5]

When reading this book, old times of academic studies came back to my mind as a sociologist. Your methodology is brilliant and I was blown away by your research. Impressive work, congratulations!

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers a good knowledge on the immigrant movement in the west, with a robust database and a understanding of the social and cultural aspects related to the integration of immigrants.

[Michal Studzinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read the book and learned a lot about immigration to Western Europe and its impact on European countries."