Integrating via networks: foreigners and others

Abstract

The article analyses some of the general network mechanisms underlying the formation of social ties in order to argue that it is not only foreignness which determines concentrations in particular cliques, and segregation of different ethnic groups. Widely held assumptions about the logic underlying ethnic segregation are challenged and it is argued that migration leads to a re-organization of social networks which can produce marked separation of groups. Evidence is discussed from an Italian case of mass internal migration which has produced long-term ('second generation') effects in terms of stratification and schooling similar to many cases of international migration. This seems to illustrate marked network effects notwithstanding absence of citizenship disadvantage and major cultural differences.