Symbiosis, Social Inclusion, Integration and Solidarity in Europe: Current Challenges and Future Prospects

Edited by Despina Syrri

ISBN: 978-618-81348-1-2

An interdisciplinary collection of essays designed to map out a wide-ranging present and future of migration, integration, inclusion and symbiosis, in Greece and in Europe, this volume addresses selected topics of the current state of the field and points to significant challenges.
Integration is an ambivalent concept, often resting on the precarious and difficult balance between the need for recognition of diversity, which allows the migrant not to feel the object of contempt as a member of an ‘other’ culture, and the desire for assimilation, which is motivated from the legitimate aspiration to equal perspectives of social and professional advancement. The dominant ‘integration’ paradigm often generates exclusion, as it presupposes immobility, a condition not possible for many. Scholars highlight that the current policy framework and the governance system of migration and integration are excessively compartimentalised and missing a nexus. Such a policy gap is common to many European countries and has negative implications for economic and social integration as it leads to informal labour, segregated and marginalised living, and decreased access to education and health.
The contributors represent many of the fields affected by migration and forced displacement studies over the past two decades, including geography, political sciences, planning, sociology and social work. The need clearly emerges for local and national policy to give voice to those who are the recipients and should be beneficiaries of the integration decision making process.

The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.