Socio-psychological integration from the perspective of receiving communities: a cross-country comparison between Sweden, Germany, Croatia and Jordan

Abstract

Abstract The socio-psychological dimension of integration is based on relations between the refugees and receiving community members revealed through intergroup thoughts, perceptions, emotions and behaviours. This study aimed to investigate and interpret the differences in the indicators of socio-psychological integration among the receiving communities of Sweden, Germany, Croatia and Jordan—countries with diverse socio-economic, socio-political and cultural contexts, histories of inward migration, as well as differently preferred destinations in the migration of refugees from Syria in the 2010s. The contextual differences are reflected in the attitudes of the members of receiving communities towards refugees from Syria, perceptions of realistic and symbolic threats posed by refugees, frequency and valence of intergroup contact, support for the rights of refugees and readiness to assist them, social proximity, perception of refugees’ exposure to discrimination, and the assessment of how much the refugees are a part of the respective local communities.

Keywords

• Integration
• Receiving communities
• Attitudes
• Perception of threat
• Intergroup relations
• Cross-country comparisons