Third Sector Hybridization and Migrant Integration : Cases of Two Migrant Youth Organizations in Finland

Abstract

In Europe, with its larger numbers of recent newcomer migrants, there lingers the important question of how to facilitate migrant integration into society. This article focuses particularly on migrant organizations and their role in integration processes in the cultural context of Finland, where there is a tradition of civil society corporatism, but where the role of the third sector has traditionally also been strong. In addition, the third sector in Finland has in recent years been experiencing changes, as demands of service provision increase, and at the same time individual participation in formal associations is decreasing. Keeping these tendencies in mind, in this article we study two large migrant organizations’ positions in the Finnish third sector, using case study method of analysis, with the help of the theoretical framework of hybridization. The article examines through what mechanisms and processes migrant organizations have been established in Finland and what implications their hybridization has, in terms of increasing public sector collaboration, on the advocacy and integrative role among integrating immigrants.