engleski

Questioning migration and integration: Croatian citizens' attitudes towards immigrants

The paper proceeds from the assumption that experiences, both, of the old and the new European immigration countries, in spite of the socio-historical specificity of each of them, could have a paradigmatic potential for the creation of immigration strategies based on the idea of integration of immigrants in the countries that are yet to become countries of immigration. If the starting point is one of understanding integration as a two-way process in which immigrants and the receiving society are equal actors, it is important to know how the members of the potential receiving society view the possibility of transforming their society into an immigration society. Therefore, the structure of this work is based upon the results of the survey conducted in 2009, on a random and representative sample of Croatian adult citizens (N = 1300). Examined are the attitudes of Croatian citizens towards migrant workers, their possible entrance on the local labour market and their potential influence upon the culture and values of the Croatian society. Through the analysis of these attitudes, in relation to specific socio-demographic characteristics of the population, attempt has been made to examine the willingness of Croatian citizens to accept migrant workers. With the application of factor analysis under the component model using GK criterion for stopping factor extraction, two latent dimensions have been extracted: socio-cultural exclusion and the perception of immigration as an economic threat. On both these latent dimensions statistically significant differences have been found for most of the socio-demographic characteristics. The results obtained do not demonstrate only the starting point for creating migration strategies in Croatia, but also confirm the view about the importance of understanding integration as a two-way process in which both, the migrants and the receiving society, through interaction undergo changes.

migration; immigration; integration; Croatian citizens; attitudes

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