My question is: Sweden has taken in hundreds of thousands of people from different cultures, including large numbers of muslims. has anyone studied how quickly these people have assimilated into Seedish society? for example:
-becoming fluent in Swedish
-adopting the local customs
-adopting the local cuisine
-serving in the armed forces
becoming members of professions
Anybody know what has been learned on this?
If you’ve ever been to Sweden, you wouldn’t be asking about adopting the local cuisine. shudder
As to employment, they tend to do about the same as native Swedes http://ftp.iza.org/dp4655.pdf, though Sweden’s immigrants are like those of any other immigration-heavy state and tend to be less educated than the locals.
Someone can successfully assimilate into another culture without adopting their language, customs or cuisine. Often the children or grandchildren of the immigrants are the ones that adopt the local customs (they learn Swedish in school of course), but others retain the culture of their home country.
Different people assimilate in very different ways, and some don’t really assimilate at all but live culturally separate.
I don’t have the number you’re asking for, but I would say that it is today, in Sweden, a general understanding that integration of immigrants has not worked very well. As an example, it is very difficult to get a job as an immigrant in Sweden. (Link to source you probably can’t read.) This together with the fact that most immigrants live in certain, specific areas where “Swedes” prefer not to live, generally speaking, leads to (my opinion) “societies within the society”, where the general interest of integration probably is low.
I’d have to agree with Wakinyan. Sweden mostly accepts immigrants under refugee status and as the government has to supply housing for refugees they will find it at the lowest possible cost. This tends to be in already heavily non-Swedish older (run-down) suburbs. Schooling for the refugee children is often in schools with very few native Swedes and the kids end up speaking Swedish with an accent. Work place discrimination makes it hard to get a good job if you have an accent. With low income they can’t move out of their suburb and the problem self-perpetuates.
This should have said “when you control for training and previous work experience.”
I’m sure you now what you are talking about, but there is something not quite right about it. I have to contrast my father. He grew in South Philly at a time (he was born in 1906) when practically everyone in his neighborhood spoke the same language–Yiddish. His parents never spoke more than broken English. Yet when he went to elementary school, where nearly all the kids spoke only Yiddish, he somehow managed to learn unaccented (if you can call the South Philly accent unaccented) English. There is something missing in this account. My mother’s family went back a bit further and she spoke English at home. But her four uncles all became wealthy businessmen.
It’s a good point, and something I don’t have a good answer for. Maybe the 2nd gen refugees cultivate a distinct speech pattern as a matter of pride/belonging? I grew up as a 2nd gen immigrant in Sweden of European parents and have no accent. I also met some 2nd gen refugees that had very slight or no accents, but they were a minority.
It doesn’t help that Swedish is a screwed up language with many undocumented quirks.
Full disclosure: I migrated from Sweden to the US in 1995 and have limited first hand knowledge of recent developments.
Hari, thank you for your reply to my input, but the difference between USA a hundred years ago and Sweden today is enormous. Perhaps I’ll find time to elaborate tomorrow if you are interested, it’s quite late here now, but there are two main differences: For one, historically, when people move to USA, they generally adopt the identity of being an American. Lets say one wants to be an American, and take pride in it – Irish-American, Swedish-American, and so forth. This is of crucial importance in regards to integration. Immigrants to Sweden (generally speaking) rather take pride of not being Swedish. I don’t know if this sounds weird, but it is really so. I was born and raised and have lived most of my life in the city in Sweden that has received most immigrants over the decades, and I am myself of immigrant background. In principle, nobody takes pride of being “Swedish”. This is a very important difference between USA and Sweden in regards of integration. The American “melting pot” is not happening here.
Also, it is very very difficult to get a job in Sweden, especially as a low educated immigrant with an obvious accent. (Thanks for the elaboration, zwede.) I principle, Sweden do not have these “simple” jobs that “anyone” can do for very low wages as USA have (for good and/or bad). I’ve got to know two American guys who came here to stay for a couple of years or so, brilliant guys both of them, and both were independently of each other amazed that you simply can’t get a job (one of good education, judging from how he spoke, and the other not, both black). They would take any mcjob, but it was impossible to get any. It’s the same for immigrants. They sit were they sit, no job and virtually no contact with ethnic Swedes, and more and more immigrants follow into the same neighborhood. So, once again, generally speaking, immigrants to a high degree isn’t “integrated” into the Swedish society. That is perhaps Sweden’s biggest challenge right now. Nobody has an answer to this question.
It is the third, according to some surveys, second, most important question (after school and health care) for Swedish voters, but no one has an answer – except Sverigedemokraterna, which is why they just keep growing. And they want to stop immigration, period. (Please note, I’m no Sverigedemokrat.)
Adding to the problem is that youth (under 24) unemployment in Sweden is very high: 24%.
http://www.unric.org/en/youth-unemployment/27411-sweden-highest-ratio-of-youth-unemployment
Note that it’s 24% of all Swedish youth, not just immigrants/refugees. So with so many ethnic Swedes unemployed, getting a job as a young immigrant (with the workplace prejudice against accented Swedish) is just about hopeless.
Having experienced both Sweden and the US, my experience is that the US does a much better job of integrating immigrants.
So, do I understand that most of these refugees never take Swedish citizenship? That (to me) is the crowning insult to the host nation-yes, we will live here and take your taxpayer’s money-but we despise Sweden! That attitude must make them popular.