Immigrants' paths of incorporation in countries of destination

This opening chapter introduces the theoretical perspectives that have developed since the late 19th century, primarily in North America and Europe, and that inform both the investigation and the structure of the present study. Particular attention is devoted to research on the integration processes of immigrants’ children, a body of literature that has gradually become an autonomous strand within migration studies. This scholarship has underscored not only the influence of ascriptive factors – such as gender, family social class, and educational credentials – on the integration trajectories of the second generation, but also the decisive impact of broader social transformations and institutional changes. Consider, for example, the role of the US civil rights movements of the 1970s, the strengthening of anti-discrimination regulations, and the restructuring of labour markets in shaping the incorporation outcomes of foreign-born populations and their descendants.