Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2014
Abstract
A cloud has settled over the immigration regimes of the European welfare states and the United States. Confidence has waned in the viability and value of integrating newcomers into a system of social solidarity. The weakening of civic nationalism and secular constitutional patriotism has unsettled national identities and undermined efforts to facilitate the inclusion of immigrants, especially Muslims. More forceful integration policies might better sustain the welfare state, but individual liberties and group recognition make this more difficult. Ironically, immigrants may now fare better in more unjust neoliberal societies such as the United States than in the advanced welfare states. This article looks at Europe (Germany in particular) and the United States to assess recent developments. Current arrangements are inadequate to resolve the dual crisis of integration and solidarity at the very moment that social equality is increasingly undermined by fiscal crises and aggressive neoliberal social policies.
Recommended Citation
David Abraham and David Abraham, Immigrant Integration and Social Solidarity in a Time of Crisis: Europe and the United States in a Postwelfare State, 1 Critical Hist. Stud. 215 (2014).