Religion and Culture of Origin. Re-Shaping Identity in the Integration Process: A Case Study in Sicily

Lorenzo Ferrante

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.15.3.07

Authors

Lorenzo Ferrante University of Palermo, Italy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.15.3.07

Keywords:

Integration, Religion, Identity, Multiculturalism, Adaptation, Assimilation

Abstract

What happens when people of different cultures, values, religion live together? Sociological studies on immigrative phenomenon often swing between immigration and integration policies. These policies actually reveal the difficulty of the host society to institutionalize new models of social differences accompanying multiculturalism. Immigrants who “arrive” continue their life in a place where they do not passively participate in the passing of time, but become actors. Pressed by the hegemonic culture of the host society to adapt, do not cease to practice their religious and origin cultural expressions, often in conditions of urban spatial and social marginalization, they resist assimilation with ethnic persistence strategies. Considering the impact of religion and origin cultural values on expression of differences, it is important to consider their role in the integration process. And, above all—facilitate or hinder integration? These dynamics have been analyzed in a research study on immigrants’ integration process in Palermo. The main results are presented in this paper. In this case study, the research’s data hypothesizes a theoretical model of integration in which immigrants, free to express their religious and cultural differences, tend to reduce their perception of minority

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Author Biography

Lorenzo Ferrante, University of Palermo, Italy

Lorenzo Ferrante is a Professor of Sociology at the Department of Political Sciences and International Relations, University of Palermo, Italy. His research interests lie in biographical paths and discontinuities, multiculturalism, newcomers, and social distance. He has dealt—at both theoretical and empirical levels and through quantitative and qualitative research—with trends of the dynamics of identity and biographical paths in Western societies. Based on this research, carried out within both national and local academic projects, he has published monographs, research reports, and articles in national book collections, as well as national and international journals.

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