Women Migrants, Work and Social Integration

Abstract

This book tells the story of the Turkish community’s social integration into British society and economy. The Turkish communities of London have developed their own methods of social integration in Britain through the ethnic economy, community organizations. These methods include the ways in which the community reproduces its social ties, networks and familial relations in which gender plays a significant role. The debate over social integration is usually underlined by the theme of ethnic minorities’ assimilation into their host societies. Although its emphasis has shifted slightly over time, from assimilation to inclusion, and then to multiculturalism, the recent debates often focus on moments of crisis and points of anxiety around cultural diversity, terrorism, race riots, ethnic gangs, ghettoes and so forth. While official multiculturalism is informed by older liberal notions of identity politics and group rights, social integration should have a grounded approach that examines context-specific relationships between ethnic minorities and the host society in which they live. Through this context-specific relationship, migrants may challenge the traditional notions of social integration, based on the assimilation of ethnic communities, but may generate an ethnic culture of interacting with the host society and the state that they are part of.