The traditional approach to the study of the integration of immigrants has assumed the main constraints to be fixed dispositional characteristics internal to individuals. An alternative, in line with Verkuyten and de Wolf (2002), is to view constraints as cultural, as part of a collectively constructed and collaboratively upheld social world that is fluid and changing rather than fixed and static. The concept of cultural surplus is introduced to clarify further the nature of cultural constraints faced by immigrants, and to illuminate the cultural factors associated with the differetial success of immigrant groups in the adopted land.
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