How Does Immigration Effect Social Cohesion, Society And Sociology?
(Assuming we are talking about legal immigration) The effect of immigration on social cohesion depends entirely on the society into which the immigrants are arriving. If a country has a notion of identity based on ideas (rather than nationality) then the effect is to strengthen social cohesion. The most obvious case is the US, although a case can be made for Australia too. As successive waves of immigrants are assimilated and are seen to contribute to the greater whole, they help social cohesion. Countries which have traditions of heterogeneous societies will adapt better to new arrivals. In countries which have a notion of identity based on nationality rather than ideas, the immigrant is more likely to be seen as “the other” and thus to be perceived as not contributing to social cohesion. Countries with homogeneous traditions will adapt slowly. An example of this is seen in Ireland, where the role of “the other”, traditionally the province of the travellers’ community, has recently be
