Social Problems in the Integration of Young Ethnic German Immigrants from Russia

June 1996 to October 1999

This project addressed the action options, social relations, and perceptions of young ethnic German immigrants from the former CIS states during their process of integration in Germany. It was funded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Urban Development, Culture, and Sports of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The process of adaptation and its inherent problems were studied from social, temporal, and sociospatial perspectives. Analyses of the social dimension focused on changes in social support networks, individual coping strategies, and the conditions of risk-taking behavior and delinquency during the course of integration. The time dimension focused on the impact of the migration process on the structure of the life course and forms of coping during status transitions as well as the relation between the generations. The spatial dimension described not only the integration process in rural and urban regions but also the relations and conflicts between immigrants and locals in concrete social spaces.

Project Manager: Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Heitmeyer

Project Team: Dr. Wolfgang Kühnel, Dr. Rainer Strobl

Student Assistants: Sylke Känner, Monika Wirbel

For further information on the entire project see the results published in Strobl, Rainer/Kühnel, Wolfgang (2000): Dazugehörig und ausgegrenzt. Analysen zu Integrationschancen junger Aussiedler [Belonging and Excluded: Analyses of Integration Chances of Young Ethnic German Immigrants]. Weinheim/Munich: Juventa.