Bringing Different States In: How welfare state institutions can possibly influence sociocultural dimensions of migrant incorporation

Migration scholars have long been concerned with understanding what influences the incorporation of migrants into their host societies. The theoretical development in this field has been dominated for several years by North American migration scholars who have not been much interested in the influence of welfare state institutions. In recent years, European migration scholars have, however, contributed to important insights on the impact of the national integration context on the socioeconomic incorporation of migrants. The aim of this article is to contribute to this burgeoning research field by drawing on insights from comparative welfare state research and thereby “bringing the state in”. Thus, the article proposes a theoretical framework for studying how the institutions of contemporary welfare states can possibly influence sociocultural dimensions of migrant incorporation. In the last part of the article, it is exemplified how these insights can be applied when studying the Danish welfare state in a comparative perspective, drawing on examples on the influence of family policies on migrants’ attitudes towards women’s paid work.