Rethinking integration: applying the capabilities approach to immigrant incorporation

Abstract Despite intensifying criticism of the concept of integration in the field of migration studies, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers continue to rely on integration as a benchmark to assess the life trajectories of migrants and their descendants in comparison to native populations, shaping policies aimed at addressing disparities. In this paper I use an interdisciplinary perspective to shine a light on the drawbacks of the traditional integration paradigm and to propose quality of life using the capabilities approach as a viable alternative. First, I examine the scientific concerns scholars have raised over decades, including integration as an ill-defined and underdeveloped concept with ambiguous dimensions and more recent normative and epistemological concerns that question the directionality of integration along with its underlying nationalist and colonialist foundations. Then I examine the capabilities approach through the same criticisms. Finally, drawing from a study of people with a migration background in Barcelona, I illustrate how these conceptual flaws become even more conspicuous when the integration paradigm is applied to the descendants of migrants. This empirical demonstration of applying the capabilities approach in migration studies highlights issues like family, discrimination, and violence, that do not appear in a traditional integration assessment.