Social integration: institutions and actors

Abstract

"In policy-oriented discourse, social integration means different things to different participants and cannot simply be regarded as an end to be maximized or prescribed for. The policy-relevant question is not how to increase integration per se, but how to distinguish patterns of integration conducive to more equitable and creative societies. The term “social integration” invites analysis of the concrete networks of relations and institutions that support or undermine the livelihood of people in given times and places. The processes of social integration, disintegration and reintegration work themselves out through a wide range of organizations and other structured arrangements or “institutions” from the international level to that of the family. These institutions embody traditions, rules and expectations; they can bestow on people complementary or alternative social identities. An equally wide range of social actors try to make use of these institutions for purposes of self-protection and advancement, and for stabilization, reform or transformation of the system. These institutions and actors are now experiencing major challenges to their legitimacy, representativeness and ability to carry out the tasks that have been traditionally expected of them or that are being thrust upon them in the world today. The symptoms obviously differ according to the type of institution and actor, as well as the country or region. However, globalization of economies and cultures and the associated phenomena of polarization and exclusion affect all of these institutions. This brief overview will summarize these challenges and assess responses. It will be hard not to overemphasize negative trends, since this evidence is more concrete and easier to generalize than information on the more localized, precarious seeds of positive change. Most institutions are however not doomed to disintegration nor actors to impotence: they will continue to adapt in ways that cannot satisfactorily be predicted or prescribed for. Actors will try to strengthen and harmonize the responsibilities of the whole range of institutions, though this effort is bound to combine short-term crisis management and pursuit of parochial interests with broader visions of social integration. This paper will focus both on evidence of real changes (innovations, adaptations, failures to adapt, breakdowns) in the institutions considered, and on how these changes are reflected in the ideologies, perceptions and demands upon or alienation from the institutions on the part of policy makers, theorists and the general public. In other words, the paper will consider how far these institutions are legitimate in the minds of the actors."(pg 1-2)