Experience of surveying permanent migration center residents and refugees in the Republic of Serbia concerning integration into a new environment

Abstract

Migration processes have existed since the beginning of world history and are part of the mechanism of the functioning of society. This is one of the reasons why it is necessary, but it is also  complex to investigate these diverse processes, which, as now, turn into a social crisis. Although, with more or less innovation, migration has been studied academically since 1889. there is no consensus on a universal theory of migrations. That would suggest that an interdisciplinary approach to this problem is necessary. Social interaction of migrants with the host society is an indispensable element of any approach to studying this issue, which is the reason for our particular interest in the framework of integration as a mechanism for managing migration. The scientific research that we conducted in all five reception centers for migrants in the Serbia is unique in that the respondents were migrants themselves, which is a rare case in general, and the first of its kind in the Republic of Serbia. We introduced the experience of surveying at the centers of permanent residence of migrants and refugees in the Republic of Serbia. Survey shows the possibility of integration into the host Serbian community, according to the migrants themselves. Thanks to the proposed new type of integration, the author recommends applying an individual approach following the principle of dispersion, which prevents ghettoization – at the initiative of the local community at the local level, within a maximum of one family as a unit of measure. Thus, the role of dispersion is to prevent ghettoization and "parallel life" of migrants and improve interaction with the local population, which is a prerequisite for communication, and consequently for social cohesion.