Integration: knowing, measuring, evaluating 17-18 giugno 2013

1. Personal Relations and
Language use
Daniela Ghio | Minister of Interior and Easo
Monica Perez| Istat
Giuseppe Sciortino | Università di Trento

2. A Puzzle in the Existing Literature
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
In public opinion and in policy debates
there is a widespread concern and
more than some fears about:
-Social closure;
-social segregation;
- lack of communication and trust
among ethnic groups;
- political and religious polarization;
- lack of civic and linguistic
integration;
In the best and more accurate
systems of social indicators
concerning the integration of
immigrants, the whole effort is
targeted to issues of structural
exclusion and social inequality,
focalizing integration as a matter of
participation in the educational
system, in the labor market and in
political collective action.
See:
•The «Saragozza» system;
•The OECD recent compilation;
•Nearly all national systems surveyed;

3. Why?
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
A good political reason: interpersonal relationships, sentimental liasons,
friendships, cherished language, etc. are all key elements of the private
sphere, where individuals are (and should) be free to pursue their own
conception of the good life;
A good cultural reason: intergenerational reproductions of inequality are a
self-evident violation of a core tenet of liberal democratic societies; The
same societies, however, value diversity positively, are suspicious of any
substantive notion of their collective identities and are fearful of the
possible political abuses in this area;
A good methodological reason: our statistical apparati are much better
at measuring structural inequalities and monitoring their trends, while they
have only rudimentary experiences in measuring diversity and relational
configurations;

4. And Still….
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
There are also good reasons to
argue that any attempt to provide
public opinion and policy-makers
with an adequate understanding of
the trends in integration cannot be
focalized only on the «hard»
dimensions of socio-structural
inequalities, but it has also to take
into account the (only apparently)
«soft» dimensions of cultural and
social interaction.

5. The Conceptual Opposite of Integration is
Segregation.
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
Integration does not presuppose
Similarity. It presupposes
Communication and Interaction
across Cleavages.

6. Social Segregation
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
Segregated contexts - with their lack
of exposure, interaction,
communication - are fertile grounds
both for the reproduction of inequality
and for the denial of recognition and
reciprocity.
Personal relationships are the
infrastructure of social capital

7. Social Segregation II
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
The Absence or Weaknesses of
heterogeneous social circles and
networks has strong implications on
the quality of democratic life.
(for a review of the empirical and
normative evidence, see Elizabeth,
Anderson, The Imperative of
Integration, 2010)

8. Language
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
The language used by immigrants
has traditionally been a matter of
concern in the U.S and Canada, while
it has been considered less important
in Western Europe.
It has become a key dimension of the
debate with the turn towards a «civic»
integration model and, in Italy,
l’accordo di integrazione.

9. Language-in-use
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
The key focus is not on language-proficiency per se, but rather on the
language(s) spoken in different contexts.
The language spoken in public contexts
The mother-tongue
The language spoken in private contexts

10. Language-in-use Data Sources
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
Istat, 2008, ad hoc module of the Labour Force Survey;
Istat, 2011-2012, Condizione e integrazione sociale dei cittadini
stranieri;
Fondazione Ismu, regional surveys;
Fondazione Ismu, national surveys;
Local Surveys on Children of Immigrants.

11. Personal Relationships
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
It is known personal relationships show a
strong tendency to Homophily;
Homophily, however, is contingent upon
structural elements (Segregation) and ease of
contact (language use, available resources,
activation costs);
Personal networks are difficult to investigate
because the very same definition of these
relationships varies quite a lot among
individuals and among segments of the
population;
True Relational Data are difficult to Collect
The level of cross-cutting personal
relationships may be taken to imply a low
social distance between the analyzed
categories;

12. Personal Relationships
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
The key focus is on the composition of personal
networks and the degree of heterogeneity
•Presence (or absence) of personal relationships with
individuals of different citizenship;
•Percentage of individuals with a different citizenship
among the most (3 or 5) important personal
relationships;
•Contexts where the relationships are activated;
•Language in which communication take place;

13. Personal Relationships Data Source
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
(about natives) Istat,2011, Discriminazioni in base al genere,
all’orientamento sessuale e all’appartenenza etnica
(about foreigners) Istat, 2011-2012, Condizione e integrazione
sociale dei cittadini stranieri;
(about foreigners) Fondazione Ismu, national and regional
surveys;
(about foreigners) Local Surveys;
(about children of immigrants) – Fully Relational Data
concerning Classrooms.

14. Sentimental Relationships
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
Integration implies growing
number of immigrant families;
Endogamy is a key indicator of
social distance;
Not all sentimental relationships
are based on sharing the same
living space

15. Sentimental Relationships
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
The key focus is on difference in family structures and on endogamy
among partners;
-% of immigrants living in households;
-Main differences in family structures among natives and immigrants;
-Significance of transnational links;
-Endogamy;

16. Sentimental Relationships Data Sources
Personal Relations and Language use | Giuseppe Sciortino| Rome 17 - 18 June 2013
(on households) Istat, 2009, Condizioni di vita delle famiglie con stranieri;
(on households) Istat, 2011-2012, Condizione e integrazione sociale dei cittadini
stranieri;
(on households) Fondazione Ismu, national and regional surveys;
(on transnational families) Istat, 2011-2012, Condizione e integrazione sociale dei
cittadini stranieri
(on transnational families) Fondazione Ismu, national and regional surveys;
(on endogamy) ) Istat, 2011-2012, Condizione e integrazione sociale dei cittadini
stranieri;
(on endogamy) Istat, 1995-…, Statistics on Marriages;
(on non-household sentimental relations) – Local surveys;