Framing matters: Pathways between policies, immigrant integration, and native attitudes

Recent years witnessed an increased scholarly interest in policies regulating immigrant integration, comprising policies that regulate immigrants' integration in the socioeconomic, political, and cultural–religious realms of society. A host of studies have started to assess policy outcomes, suggesting that integration policies may influence both, natives' attitudes towards immigrants, as well as immigrants' integration. However, existing research produces mixed results on how these policies matter. The present chapter brings the two so far unrelated research strands on policy outcomes on native attitudes, on the one hand, and on immigrant integration, on the other hand, into dialogue. It develops the argument that research should pay closer attention to the indirect effects of integration policies on native attitudes via their impact on immigrant integration, to reach more conclusive evidence on policy outcomes. If integration policies affect immigrants' agency, visibility, and representation in society, such outcomes should also affect how natives view immigrants.