Migration narratives : from integration to incorporation

Abstract

This article delimitates from the narratives depicting migration – especially under its irregular form – and migrants as a „problem” to be solved; instead, it focuses on the need to integrate migrants and on assessing their input in the overall development of today’s Union, conceived both as an impressive labour market and as a supranational society. It is emphasized the analytical confusion caused by the multitude of terms and positions regarding the ideal- type relations imagined in the literature between migrants and host societies, and it proposes surmounting the paradigmatic incommensurability by gathering these various approaches under the umbrella of the concept of incorporation that will prove useful for providing a unitary framework for conducting fruitful debates and analysis about how to better integrate migrants and strengthen their role in their new communities.