The Complexity of Belonging in the Migrant Integration Process: A Mixed Methods Study from Australia

James O'Donnell , Australian National University
Qing Guan, Australian National University

Immigrants’ acquisition of a sense of national identity and belonging in their host country is an important part of their social-psychological integration. Indeed, a sense of identity, place and home in host countries is arguably the culmination of theorised processes of social and economic integration. The acquisition of belonging though is complex, likely shaped by sometimes conflicting and paradoxical relationships between socioeconomic backgrounds, emotional attachments and the experience of discrimination. In this study, we use a mixed methods approach, using quantitative and qualitative data from Australia, to analyse migrants’ sense of national belonging. The results to date underline this complexity. Emotional and psychological ties operate alongside lived realities, the accumulation of social capital, the experience of ‘othering’ (whether through overt discrimination or more subtle treatment of migrants) and socioeconomic and career progression. Key next steps in this research including the building and testing of structural equation models that quantitatively assess the relationships and potential pathways between discrimination and belonging for migrants on different life course and socioeconomic trajectories. The quantitative data are all cross-sectional and the measured associations will not imply causal relationships. Nevertheless, the combination of detailed survey data with the rich qualitative information will provide important insights on key aspects of migrant social wellbeing.

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 Presented in Session 14. Flash session Migrant Populations