Informal Agencies of Socialization and the Integration of Immigrant Youth into Society: An Example from Israel

Abstract

This article explains why informal voluntaristic agencies of socialization are considered the most adequate for facilitating the absorption of immigrants into society. The major argument is that the structural characteristics of informal agencies, such as moratorium, symmetry, expressiveness, voluntarism and multiplexity, have made them a setting for reciprocal encounters between veterans and newcomers. Such encounters generate a sense of dignity among immigrants and increase their capacity to struggle for economic and political absorption on their own terms.