Strangers No More is the first book to compare immigrant integration across key Western countries. Focusing on low-status newcomers and their children, it examines how they are making their way in four critical European countries—France, Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands—and, across the Atlantic, in the United States and Canada. This systematic, data-rich comparison reveals their progress and the barriers they face in an array of institutions—from labor markets and neighborhoods to educational and political systems—and considers the controversial questions of religion, race, identity, and intermarriage.
Richard Alba and Nancy Foner shed new light on questions at the heart of concerns about immigration. They analyze why immigrant religion is a more significant divide in Western Europe than in the United States, where race is a more severe obstacle. They look at why, despite fears in Europe about the rise of immigrant ghettoes, residential segregation is much less of a problem for immigrant minorities there than in the United States. They explore why everywhere, growing economic inequality and the proliferation of precarious, low-wage jobs pose dilemmas for the second generation. They also evaluate perspectives often proposed to explain the success of immigrant integration in certain countries, including nationally specific models, the political economy, and the histories of Canada and the United States as settler societies.
Strangers No More delves into issues of pivotal importance for the present and future of Western societies, where immigrants and their children form ever-larger shares of the population.
Awards and Recognition
- Honorable Mention for the 2017 ENMISA Distinguished Book Award, Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Section the International Studies Association
"A welcome stocktaking of how ‘low-status' immigrants have fared in North America and several Western European countries. The value added by this volume is the compact compilation of comparative data on key domains of integration, from the labor market to intermarriage."—Christian Joppke, American Journal of Sociology
"Richard Alba and Nancy Foner have written what will undoubtedly become the ‘'go-to' book for comparisons of immigration on both sides of the Atlantic. Clearly written, meticulously researched, and insightfully analyzed, Strangers No More: Immigration and the Challenges of Integration in North America and Western Europe helps readers easily capture the broad mechanisms driving migration and integration today."—Peggy Levitt, Contemporary Sociology
"Richard Alba and Nancy Foner took on an impossible task: to write a comprehensive, but also empirically grounded, account of the integration of people they call ‘low-status' migrants, across the main distinct fields of integration, covering the experiences of the four main Western European immigration countries and the US and Canada, all within a country comparative framework. Given this high ambition with regard to substance and scope, this book stands unrivalled and unmatched as an achievement. Few scholars possess the depth of knowledge or mastery of the arts to take on such a challenge. Remarkably, the book delivers such a high degree of informed understanding across the boards that it will stand as a benchmark and reference point for leading and junior scholars, as well as advanced students and informed publics."—Paul Statham, Ethnic and Racial Studies Review
"[An] extraordinary and interesting book. . . . [This] book, a rich and nuanced view of immigration in these six countries, should be required reading for understanding how these six nations deal with immigrants and their integration into the larger society."—David M. Reimers, Journal of American Studies
"This study really is comparative immigration scholarship at its very best. It exposes best practices and successes, encourages countries to learn from each other, and contends that existing problems can be solved and integration achieved. At a time when both North America and Western Europe's diversity is too often portrayed as an insurmountable challenge, this book gives us hope."—Sarah Hackett, Patterns of Prejudice
"This brilliant book, by two of the most eminent scholars of immigration, compares the integration of immigrants on both sides of the Atlantic. Alba and Foner provide a cogent account of the history, sociology, economics, and politics of immigrant integration, and challenge many things we thought we knew about the subject. This is a tour de force."—Mary C. Waters, Harvard University
"Integration is not just about the desires of immigrants or availability of jobs—it is fundamentally about institutions and policies that shape incorporation. In this deft tour de force exploring six countries and multiple areas of life, Strangers No More reveals that simple narratives of integration break down in the face of complex institutional arrangements. A must-read for students and scholars alike."—Irene Bloemraad, University of California, Berkeley
"Although all developed nations have become countries of immigration, prior studies have only analyzed immigrant assimilation on a country-by-country basis. Strangers No More undertakes the first comprehensive look at immigrant integration in six diverse nations. Revealing broad similarities and stark differences in the forces that shape immigrant outcomes, this book is essential reading for all students of international migration in the world today."—Douglas S. Massey, coauthor of Climbing Mount Laurel
"In many societies throughout the world, immigrants and their descendants are growing to become the lion's share of the population. How have diverse immigrant groups and their subsequent generations fared in this transition? Alba and Foner offer no simple answers, but rather show complex relations of contextual factors, processes, and outcomes. Looking at six nations on both sides of the Atlantic, this comparative work is a masterly exploration."—Steven Vertovec, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
"With its unique scope, this excellent book is a must-read for anybody interested in immigration. It deals with two continents, various immigrant groups, and many fields of inclusion. There is no other book like it."—Jan Willem Duyvendak, University of Amsterdam
"This accessible and ambitious book thoughtfully compares the experiences and outcomes for immigrants in six host countries—Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Netherlands, and the United States. Exploring how national and local policies impact the reception and lives of immigrants, the authors demonstrate that no country has all the answers when it comes to immigration. This work fills a real gap in the literature and will have an impact."—Caroline B. Brettell, Southern Methodist University
