Khenkin Sergey Markovich – ScD in History, Principal Researcher INION RAN
The article shows that Spain, for many centuries a country of emigration, has changed the resettlement paradigm, becoming the country of immigration. There was an acute socio-cultural problem of the integration of immigrants into society. We are talking primarily about the integration of two foreign cultural communities – African and Latin American, noticeably different in degree of proximity to the host society. Muslim settlers who adhere to the precepts of the Quran experience a cultural shock in Spanish society following the path of secularization, where religion becomes everyone's personal affair. For some of them, the way of life of the Spaniards is unacceptable - the pursuit of material benefits, a lack of spirituality, a lack of respect for each other in family relations. Among those rejecting Western values, a special group is made up of radical Islamists. At the same time, many Muslims are satisfied with life in Spain, their identity sometimes begins to be lost due to the assimilation of some Western values and habits. Hispanics who speak Spanish and profess Catholic values are closer to Spaniards. At the same time, some of the immigrants' hopes for resettlement to Spain are replaced by disappointment due to the loss of their previous professional status, discrimination in rental housing and other manifestations of racism by the indigenous population. The attitude towards immigrants of parties, the media and indigenous people is deeply contradictory - a combination of tolerance and rejection. The author concludes that in modern Spain there is an "insufficient integration" ("subintegracion") of immigrants in the three most important dimensions - social-economic, political-institutional and ethnocultural: in each of them they are in a vulnerable position compared to the indigenous population. Immigrant integration mechanisms are not effective enough. Meanwhile, the normal coexistence of immigrants and Spaniards is impossible without mutual rapprochement, which will avoid permanent instability and serious social conflicts in the near and distant future.
Spain, European Union, immigration, Muslims, Latinos, tolerance, xenophobia, immigrant integration mechanisms.
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