Social integration, in sociology and other social sciences, is the movement of minority groups such as ethnic minorities, refugees and underprivileged sections of a society into the mainstream of societies. Members of the minority groups thus gain full access to the opportunities, rights and services available to the members of the mainstream. Even if in theory the integration of any refugees or minorities can be considered as a similar overture to the world of differences, in facts, the awareness is quite different: on one hand you face a “stranger” to the community and on the other, it is just a part of the community that you grow with knowing it to be underprivileged. Integration act takes then another colon because not only you have to open your mind and door to something new but you have also to question your whole own existence, those privileges that have founded your life until now. This is the case when we are talking about racial or sexual privileges and also about the disabled social integration. When you have grown knowing this and that, it is not easy to back flat those elementary conceptions and reinvent whole new fundamentals.
That is the reason why in History these integration steps have always been driven by a few or marked by symbolic events. Martin Luther King’s speech or Rosa Parks protest are one of those events that embody the racial unity. There is always a leader who can build a new horizon of thinking and show it to the world before acceptance by the majority. Those men and women that have made possible a new way of thinking, a new way of living. They have change the common part in everybody, what we call “the human being”. Lao Tseu, the great Chinese master, said:”the Wise Man Knows without going, Sees without seeing, Does without doing” He faces the world without never passing the doorway. These leadership are necessary in that case. Mahatma Gandhi, the great spirit, has been the one who brings Indian people’s right to the table. L’Abbé Pierre, in France, is the one who opens the eyes to the homeless conditions. In Switzerland, the social integration of the disabled is now materialized in a website that spread informations and defend their rights. John Lennon has become the symbol of the Peace And Love generation, defending the idea that Love is above everything.
In sociology, social integration usually goes hand in hand with social solidarity. In reality, social integration – the act of acceptance – and social solidarity – the act of sharing – are spread in time with a delay depending on how depend is the feelings towards the new arrivals. It is just like letting a stranger in your house: giving accommodation for a minute or a night doesn’t obligatory means sharing more personal things! For example, in our society, disabled are said to be well considered because of the accommodations and access they can find for their everyday moves but can we still talk about full integration’ Certainly not. In people’s mind, handicap is still related to weakness even if disabled persons can do things that others cannot. Sports World Championships always find a good audience and coverage but when you are talking about Disabled sports, things just change dramatically.
The United Nations has a Social Integration Branch, which is a part of the Division for Social Policy and Development (Department of Economic and Social Affairs). It also issues a quarterly publication named Bulletin on Social Integration Policies. The UN Alliance of Civilizations initiative works on Migration and Integration as a key for intercultural understanding. An Online Community on Migration and Integration shows Good Practices from around the world.
In the emerging world of social networking applications on the internet, social integration is a term that can be considered when members are being transparent in all of their various work, personal, faith and local community interactions.