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Participation in socio-cultural activities and subjective well-being of natives and migrants: evidence from Germany and the UK

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Abstract

Within the diverse populations characterizing the modern society, it is essential to explore the experiences of multicultural individuals and their subjective well-being. The aim of this study is to explore the participation of migrants in socio-cultural activities related to arts, theatre, concerts and sports events and its role in their subjective well-being (SWB). The empirical analysis relies on data derived from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) Survey over the period 1984–2017 and the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) covering the period 2010–2013. We apply panel data models to explore and compare the impact of the participation in socio-cultural activities on subjective well-being between first-generation immigrants and natives. Furthermore, based on the available information, we extend the analysis to consider the 2.5 and second-generation immigrants. The findings show that first-generation immigrants report lower levels of SWB compared to natives. We find no differences in the SWB between natives and the 2.5 generation migrants in Germany, while second-generation migrants report on average higher levels of SWB than natives do. On the other hand, all migrant generations we explore in the UK present lower levels of SWB, while participation in socio-cultural activities improves the SWB of both natives and migrants. Moreover, our findings suggest that socio-cultural participation reduces the SWB gap between natives and immigrants, indicating that socio-cultural integration can be an alternative policy of creating inclusive, secure and happier communities.

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Data availability

Germany The data used in this publication were made available to us by the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin. I would like to thank Philipp Kaminsky – Alisa Fränkel at the SOEP Hotline for their support and for providing us the data. UK The empirical analysis for the UK was based on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS), Waves 2–3, 2010–2013: Special License Access, Local Authority Districts, produced by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and supplied by the UK Data Archive. The data are the copyright of ISER. The use of the data in this work does not imply the endorsement of ISER, ESRC or the UK Data Archive in relation to the interpretation or analysis of the data.

Notes

  1. For additional description and more details see https://www.diw.de/en/soep and Wagner et al. (2007).

  2. For more information you can see https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Editor and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable suggestions and constructive comments that greatly contributed to the improvement of the quality of this paper. Furthermore, the author would like to thank Professor Sacit Hadi Akdede for his support and mentoring, and Dr. Oznur Ozdamar for her valuable feedback and support. Any remaining errors or omissions remain the responsibility of the author.

Funding

This paper has been produced benefiting from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action 2236 Co-Funded Brain Circulation Scheme2 (CoCirculation2) of TÜBİTAK (Project No: 119C017), which has been funded under the FP7-PEOPLE-2011-COFUND call of the 7th Framework Programme. The author is grateful for the financial support received. However, the entire responsibility of the paper belongs to the owner of the paper. The financial support received from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) does not mean that the context of the paper is approved in a scientific sense by TÜBİTAK.

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  1. Nazilli Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Public Finance, Cumhuriyet, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, 09860, Isabayli/Nazilli, Turkey

    Eleftherios Giovanis

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Giovanis, E. Participation in socio-cultural activities and subjective well-being of natives and migrants: evidence from Germany and the UK. Int Rev Econ 68, 423–463 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-021-00377-x

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