The New Minority

After more than forty years of discussion, research and policies aimed at migrants, their children and their grandchildren, it is high time for a book focusing on a group that has been overlooked in the integration debate: people without a migration background. In many major European cities, this group has become a numerical minority. How do they experience today’s superdiverse cities? How do they engage with diversity? These questions were answered in the international Becoming a Minority (BaM) research. An important outcome was that people without a migration background generally see living in an ethnically diverse city as enriching but very few have ethnically mixed friendship groups. Many members of this new minority group have not learnt to ‘do diversity’ from an early age.

This book shows that people who have mastered the art of living together in diversity have more social contacts and enjoyable interactions, resulting in a greater sense of belonging in the superdiverse city. Participating in your diverse surrounding appears to be good for your own well-being.