Social Dangers of European Integration

Integracja europejska jako proces społeczny pozostaje pod wpływem licznych zagrożeń, które w różnym zakresie mogą na nią oddziaływać. Przynajmniej częściowo występują one na płaszczyźnie politycznej - stając się konsekwencją zachodzących procesów ekonomicznych czy psychologicznych. Ewolucja postaw społecznych jednostek może mieć negatywne znaczenie dla europejskich społeczeństw. W niniejszym artykule szczególną uwagę autorzy poświęcają zagrożeniom płynącym z atomizacji, anomii oraz społecznej alienacji. Odniesieniem dla ich oddziaływania jest sfera społeczno-polityczna. Atomizacja może wpływać na poziom uczestnictwa politycznego i doprowadzić do upadku moralnych i społecznych zasad demokracji. Anomia wiąże się z reakcjami adaptacyjnymi, które mogą powodować wycofanie się z istniejących norm i wartości społecznych. Dodatkowo anomia i atomizacja mogą oddziaływać w ramach megatrendów sprawiając, że trudniej adaptować procesy demokratyzacyjne. Mając na uwadze znaczenie aspektu psychologicznego funkcjonowania jednostki w środowisku społecznym, analizie został poddany także problem alienacji społecznej, który w określonych wymiarach może stanowić istotne zagrożenie dla procesów integracji europejskiej.European integration as a social process is endangered by phenomena which can reduce, stop and downgrade this process. They occur, at least partly, out of political intentions. They become a conseąuence of existing processes in the political, industrial and psychosocial spheres. The evolution of social attitudes of an individual can take the wrong direction, and this can result in a negative influence on social systems. In this paper, special attention is placed on a few of them: atomisation, anomie and social alienation, linked to political and social problems. Atomisation can effect political participation and can lead to morał decay of the social rules of democracy. Anomie leads to adaptation reactions, which can cause withdrawal from existing values and social norms. Additionally, stratification of anomie and atomisation in terms of megatrends makes it harder to counteract their results, because the character of these phenomena leads to an indirect relationship with integration. Bearing in mind the importance of psychological functioning of individuals in a changing social environment, the issue of social alienation that at certain levels of intensity can pose a threat to European integration was also analysed

Social policies in Italian Fascism. Authoritarian strategies and social integration

The essay will retrace some of the fundamental steps concerning the development of the Italian welfare state during the years of Fascism, framing them within the most recent historiographical debate as well as in the context of some national and international issues. In particular, the national insurance and welfare policies under Fascism will be examined both in the more general context of the growth of social policies seen in the 1930s, and in reference to the main Italian institution responsible for the management of social security (the INFPS, the Fascist National Institute of Social Welfare)

European social integration: From convergence of countries to transnational relations between peoples

European countries are becoming increasingly politically integrated and the process of integration has accelerated in recent years. But how much social integration is there within the Community? This article supplies a definition of European social integration, and thereby lays down the foundations necessary for answering this important sociological question. Instead of analysing the EU as a political system, I view the EU as a social space of non-state actors of different nationality, and concentrate on the intergroup relations between the national collectivities involved in the amalgamation process. I define social integration as being transnational and macro-social; my definition has a quantitative dimension (relating to mutual relevance) as well as a qualitative dimension (relating to cohesion). I will argue that this definition is more useful than the European Commissions approach, which equates social integration with the convergence of living and working conditions, and also more useful than the social policy approach, which equates social integration with the convergence of regulations and social policies. -- Unter dem Dach der Europäischen Union (EU) und ihrer Vorläufer ist die politische Integration Europas ein gutes Stück vorangekommen. Doch wie steht es mit der sozialen Integration innerhalb der Gemeinschaft? In diesem Artikel wird eine Definition von europäischer Sozialintegration vorgestellt, die uns erst in die Lage versetzt, diese soziologische Frage zu beantworten. Die EU wird dabei nicht als politisches System betrachtet, sondern als Sozialraum, bestehend aus den europäischen Nationen. Die Integration dieses Sozialraumes bestimmt sich durch die Quantität (diesen Aspekt nenne ich gegenseitige Relevanz) und Qualität (diesen Aspekt nenne ich sozialen Zusammenhalt) der Beziehungen zwischen den EU-Völkern. Meine Definition von europäischer Sozialintegration ist demnach transnational und makro-sozial. Es wird argumentiert, dass dieses Konzept brauchbarer ist als bestehende Ansätze wie der der Europäischen Kommission, bei dem möglichst einheitliche Arbeits- und Lebensbedingungen im Vordergrund stehen, und dem sozialpolitischen Ansatz, bei dem Integration mit der Vereinheitlichung von Sozialpolitik gleichgesetzt wird.European Union,social integration,social cohesion,convergence,identity,transnational relations,Europäische Union,soziale Integration,sozialer Zusammenhalt,Konvergenz,Identität,transnationale Beziehungen.

Student Withdrawal: Test of an Integrated Model

This study examined a model of student withdrawal that integrated the major elements of Tinto\u27s (1975) Student Integration Model and Bean\u27s (1982, 1983) Industrial Model of Student Attrition. In a sample of 315 college freshman, the results of a path analysis indicated that both social and academic integration were related to satisfaction but only academic integration was related to commitment. Neither social nor academic integration had significant direct effects on intention to withdraw. Further, of the two attitudinal variables, satisfaction was related to intention to withdraw, however, commitment was not. These findings support the integrated model of student withdrawal

Integration, social distress, and policy formation

I study the integration of regions in the form of a merger of populations, which I interpret as a revision of people’s social space and their comparison set; I illustrate the way in which a merger can aggravate social distress; and I consider policy responses. Specifically, I view the merger of populations as a merger of income vectors; I measure social distress by aggregate relative deprivation; I demonstrate that a merger increases aggregate relative deprivation; and I show that a social planner is able to reverse this increase by means of least-cost, post-merger increases in individual incomes, but is unable to counter it by relying exclusively on a self-contained income redistribution that retains individual levels of wellbeing at their pre-merger levels.Integration of regions, Merger of populations, Revision of social space, Aggregate relative deprivation, Social distress, Policy responses, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Relations/Trade, D04, D63, F55, H53, P51,

Integration, social distress, and policy formation

I study the integration of regions in the form of a merger of populations, which I interpret as a revision of people's social space and their comparison set; I illustrate the way in which a merger can aggravate social distress; and I consider policy responses. Specifically, I view the merger of populations as a merger of income vectors; I measure social distress by aggregate relative deprivation; I demonstrate that a merger increases aggregate relative deprivation; and I show that a social planner is able to reverse this increase by means of least-cost, post-merger increases in individual incomes, but is unable to counter it by relying exclusively on a self-contained income redistribution that retains individual levels of wellbeing at their pre-merger levels. --integration of regions,merger of populations,revision of social space,aggregate relative deprivation,social distress,policy responses

Age at Migration and Social Integration

The paper studies childhood migrants and examines how age at migration affects their ensuing integration at the residential market, the labor market, and the marriage market. We use population-wide Swedish data and compare outcomes as adults among siblings arriving at different ages in order to ensure that the results can be given a causal interpretation. The results show that the children who arrived at a higher age had substantially lower shares of natives among their neighbors, coworkers and spouses as adults. The effects are mostly driven by higher exposure to immigrants of similar ethnic origin, in particular at the marriage market. We also find some effects on educational attainment, employment rates and wages, although these effects are much more limited in magnitude. We also analyze children of migrants and show that parents' time in the host country before child birth matters, which implies that the outcomes of the social integration process are inherited. Inherited integration has a particularly strong impact on the marriage patterns of females.immigration, integration, segregation, age at migration, siblings

Homophily and Long-Run Integration in Social Networks

We model network formation when heterogeneous nodes enter sequentially and form connections through both random meetings and network-based search, but with type-dependent biases. We show that there is "long-run integration," whereby the composition of types in sufficiently old nodes' neighborhoods approaches the global type distribution, provided that the network-based search is unbiased. However, younger nodes' connections still reflect the biased meetings process. We derive the type-based degree distributions and group-level homophily patterns when there are two types and location-based biases. Finally, we illustrate aspects of the model with an empirical application to data on citations in physics journals.Comment: 39 pages, 2 figure

Age at migration and social integration

The paper studies childhood migrants and examines how age at migration affects their ensuing integration at the residential market, the labor market, and the marriage market. We use population-wide Swedish data and compare outcomes as adults among siblings arriving at different ages in order to ensure that the results can be given a causal inter-pretation. The results show that the children who arrived at a higher age had substan-tially lower shares of natives among their neighbors, coworkers and spouses as adults. The effects are mostly driven by higher exposure to immigrants of similar ethnic origin, in particular at the marriage market. There are also non-trivial effects on employment, but a more limited impact on education and wages. We also analyze children of migrants and show that parents’ time in the host country before child birth matters, which implies that the outcomes of the social integra¬tion process are inherited. Inherited integration has a particularly strong impact on the marriage patterns of females.Immigration; integration; segregation; age at migration; siblings