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This study aims to portray causes and factors that promote or impede the integration of the foreign population in Germany. For this reason, approx. 2,400 immigrants of Italian and Turkish origin were asked about their living conditions, behaviours and attitudes.
The question of the forms of and determining factors for integration of the foreign population is increasingly gaining significance with the permanent settlement of the groups that immigrated as former “guest workers” and their progeny. However, there is frequently a lack of suitable data to provide empirically substantiated answers to questions much discussed by society such as: How far has the integration of persons with migration backgrounds (immigrants) progressed in the educational and vocational areas, and how can we explain their distance to the Germans, if any? What is the situation with regard to the interest and participation of immigrants in the political and social spheres? Are the numbers of interethnic marriages and friendships increasing, and are there differences in this regard between the nationalities? These questions are especially urgent when it is a matter of the “second” or “third generation” of immigrants, since the integration or segregation of this group will decisively characterize society in Germany in coming decades.
For these reasons, in July 2000 the market and opinion research institute BIK Aschpurwis und Behrens, Hamburg, was commissioned with a widespread survey of immigrants of Italian and Turkish origin in the ages of 18 to 30 years as well as a German control group (each with approx. 1,200 respondents). The survey data were delivered to the BiB in late March of 2001.
The survey recorded items concerning living conditions, behaviour and attitudes. The core themes consisted of school, vocational, social, linguistic and identification integration; the type and extent of contacts to the ethnic community and its institutions; attitudes towards life in Germany and political participation as well as familial living conditions and attitudes. Due to the thematic breadth of the survey and the large number of respondents, the data enable substantiated assertions on the integrative patterns of the groups studied.
The data of the Integration Survey can be accessed at GESIS under the study number ZA4821.
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