Migrants’ Adaptation Problems in Spain Described in Surveys by Foreign Sociologists

This article presents the results of studies of the process of adaptation of migrants in Spain by foreign sociologists. These results will be of interest to Russian scientists and politicians involved in the preparation of documents on the implementation of state policy and legal regulation in the field of integration of migrants into the Russian social space. The article shows the application of various migration theories existing in world science in the social environment of Spain. Particular attention is paid to the “Grow in Spain. Integration of immigrant children” longitudinal study project, implemented under the supervision of Alejandro Portes, one of the authors of the theory of segment assimilation. The effectiveness of longitudinal surveys of the second generation of migrants, carried out in the USA, has been confirmed. The process of adaptation is being considered in dynamics through the example of different generations of migrants and representatives of different cultures. The article shows factors identified by Spanish sociologists, which determine the process of adaptation and further integration. Particular attention is paid to access to education and the labor market, as well as to the absence of discrimination, the nature of resettlement, the information environment and the extent to which positive and negative ethnic and racial stereotypes are prevalent. The results of the surveys are examined separately by Spanish sociologists, as well as the significance of the ethnic and confessional affiliation of migrants arriving to the country, and the reasons causing difficulties for them in adaptation related to ethno-cultural differences. The article examines the Spanish experience of integration of the second generation of immigrants with regard to direct contact with the local population and the information space of the host community.