Immigrant welfare in Greece:portrait of a town

This paper examines majority-immigrant relations through the prism of welfare provision to glean insight into the extent to which the welfare system influences the integration of immigrants into Greek society. Does welfare provision help lead to social cohesion between the majority society and immigrant minorities? Are existing majority-immigrant tensions abated, or exacerbated, by the welfare system? What is the role of welfare provision in relation to other integration factors such as labour market participation, naturalization and broadening conceptions of host society identity? These questions are addressed through in-depth qualitative research conducted in a Greek town. The research indicates that immigrant integration is largely influenced by local level policies and by immigrants’ daily encounters with people who carry these out.