What does integration mean? Social insertion of Russian immigrants in Israel

This article is an effort to refine current understanding of social integration in the context of repatriate migration. The empirical basis for this analysis is a recent survey in a national sample of post-1990 Russian Jewish immigrants to Israel that examined the pace and determinants of their integration and acculturation. The proposed analytical framework in based on the four main indicators of integration among educated first-genaration immigrants: (a) the improving command of the host language and emerging bilingualism; (b) skilled occupation in the mainstream economy; (c) diversification of immigrants' informal networks to include members of the host society; and (d) shifts in the cultural and media consumption from coethnic (i.e., Russian-based) to the mainstream (i.e., Hebrew/English-based) products. The study helps to sketch social profiles of the immigrants prone to social integration versus separatism; it also taps into the issue of cultural contact between the newcomers and non-immigrant Israelis measured on both sides of theencounter.