Cultural integration and difference from migrants’ perspective Cultural comparisons between country of residence and country of origin

The cultural integration of migrants has garnered increased attention in policy and research in recent years. Whereas some researchers see successful cultural integration as a process of cultural convergence between native and migrant populations, others identify instances of failed integration with fundamentalism and parallel societies spreading among several groups of migrants. Instead of taking the receiving society’s perspective, this chapter puts migrants on centre stage, drawing on contemporary theories of integration and transnationalism. The analysis focuses on how migrants perceive the culture of their country of residence (CoR), the differences compared to their country of origin (CoO), and their evaluation of these cultures, offering an alternative perspective to conventional integration discussions. Based on 61 in-depth interviews with migrants from European and non-European countries in 11 Western European countries, the analysis reveals significant variations in migrants’ perspectives, primarily according to the cultural distance between CoO and CoR. Whereas most migrants from Western Europe discern limited cultural differences, migrants from Eastern Europe and non-European countries highlight pronounced divergences, particularly in areas like food, interpersonal contact, and values.