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Indian High-Skilled Labor Migrants in Sweden a Study About Social Integration, Interpersonal Communication and National Identification

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Indian High-Skilled Labor Migrants in Sweden a Study About Social Integration, Interpersonal Communication and National Identification Indian high-skilled labor migrants in Sweden A study about social integration, interpersonal communication and national identification Carl Larsson Communication for Development One-year master 15 Credits Spring/2018 Supervisor: Michael Krona Abstract This research aims to understand the extent to which integration among Indian high- skilled labor migrants in the Swedish society has occurred. The study takes it stance from the following research field: Social integration, interpersonal communication and national identification. These three research fields are assembled into a model used to analyze the empirical data. As a method, nine semi-structured interviews are used with ten Indian national interviewees in total. The Interviews are conducted in the southern part of Sweden in three different cities, Malmö, Lund and Helsingborg. Core findings show proof of employment as a central part in integration. Other findings show lack of Swedish language as an issue for better social integration; low levels of interpersonal communication between the interviewees and other social groups in Sweden which leads to low levels of Swedish national identification. In the discussion, the study stresses the importance of: communication between social groups in order to have better integration; time as an important factor for integration and the need of mutual accommodation between social groups in a pluralistic society like Sweden, to improve levels of integration. Key Words: Social integration; Interpersonal communication; National identification; Globalization; Labor migration 2 Table of contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 2 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 7 1.1.1 Indian migrants ............................................................................................... 7 1.1.2 Swedish immigration context ......................................................................... 9 1.1.3 General overview of social integration ......................................................... 10 1.2 Research aim ........................................................................................................ 11 1.3 Delimitation .......................................................................................................... 12 1.4 Structure ............................................................................................................... 13 2 Theoretical framework ............................................................................................... 13 2.1 Social integration .................................................................................................. 13 2.1.1 How to describe social integration ................................................................ 14 2.1.2 How to analyze social integration ................................................................. 15 2.2 Interpersonal communication ............................................................................. 21 2.2.1 How interpersonal communication affect social integration and national identification ......................................................................................................... 22 2.3 National identification ........................................................................................ 24 2.3.1 Ways of describing national identification .................................................. 27 2.4 Framework model for social integration ............................................................ 29 3 Methodology .............................................................................................................. 29 3.1 Semi-structured interviewing ............................................................................. 30 3.2 Critical method discussion ................................................................................. 30 3.3 Method design ...................................................................................................... 31 3.3.1 Semi-structured interviews .......................................................................... 32 3.3.2 Delimitations ................................................................................................ 32 3.3.3 Snowball sampling ....................................................................................... 32 3.3.4 About the interviewees ................................................................................. 33 4 Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 37 4.1 Social integration ................................................................................................. 37 4.1.1 Markers and means ....................................................................................... 37 4.1.2 Social connections ........................................................................................ 40 4.1.3 Facilitators .................................................................................................... 43 4.1.4 Foundation ................................................................................................... 46 4.2 Interpersonal communication ............................................................................ 48 3 4.2.1 Change of behavior in order to adapt ........................................................... 49 4.2.2 Differences in culture ................................................................................... 50 4.2.3 Formal versus informal ................................................................................. 51 4.2.4 Swedish people closed .................................................................................. 52 4.2.5 Language and culture as barriers to interact ............................................... 53 4.3 National identification ........................................................................................ 54 4.3.1 Examples of interviewees saying yes to identification with Swedishness ... 55 4.3.2 Examples of interviewees saying no to identification with Swedishness ... 57 4.3.3 Processes to identify with Swedishness ....................................................... 58 5 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 61 5.1 Answers to the research questions ....................................................................... 61 5.3 Possible explanations and speculation ............................................................... 64 5.4 Limitations .......................................................................................................... 64 5.5 Implications ........................................................................................................ 65 5.6 Earlier research comparison ............................................................................... 65 5.7 Recommendations ............................................................................................... 66 References ..................................................................................................................... 67 Appendix ....................................................................................................................... 73 Interview template .................................................................................................... 73 4 1 Introduction The numbers of people migrating around the world has never been this high according to current estimations (United Nations, 2017). To date, Indian migration workers are estimated to be the largest emigrant population in the world with 16.6 million living abroad – the number doubled from 2000 (Ibid). Over 1 million Indians currently live in the European Union (Eurostat, 2018) and 29.673 Indians reside in Sweden today (SCB, 2018). Migrants seek, for various reasons, a better place to reside and live in. A relatively small country like Sweden with 10 million inhabitants is attractive for migrant workers due to the stable economy and good job possibilities (World Economic forum, 2017). Sweden has an estimated 1.8 million foreign born residents- a number that has increased steadily since the 1950’s (Swedish Migration Agency, 2018). Due to the recent vast increase of immigration to Sweden, public discourse has been directed towards immigration and integration (Roden, 2017). As a country favoring multiculturalism for a long time, Sweden has been considered to be an open and embracing country of different cultures and backgrounds (Borevi, 2014). Many studies have been conducted about migration and integration (Jaskułowski, 2017). Some have focused on middle class Indians migrating to Poland for work and career opportunities (Myrvold, 2012). Others have examined how Indians in Sweden face immigration and integration; while some like Stievano et al. (2017) have interviewed Indian nurses in Italy to understand their social integration. However, compared to countries such as the United Kingdom (catering half of EU’s Indian population according to Eurostat, 2018), USA and the Gulf area, Indian nationals in Sweden have increased by threefold since the millennium (SCB, 2018) and hence
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