From Temporary Workers To Citizens

The United States and Germany are now the world's two largest recipients of Temporary-workers. The Mexican-born population and the Turkish-born population are respectively the largest temporary-workers in the United States and Germany, which only emerged in the postwar period, provides a rich opportunity to compare the ways in which the two countries think about and approach the problem of inclusion and integration of temporary-workers.The foreword introduces the situation of current research and explains the relevant concepts and theories. The paper consists of four parts. Part one reviews the transition from temporary-workers to the citizens of host society. But the full transformation of sojourners into citizens is bound to require time and generational change. Part two states that Mexican incorporation into the United States is producing a complex web of social, economic, cultural, and policy relations or Latino culture and institutions. They form dual identity and dual nationality. Part three analyses the assimilation of Turks in Germany. The Turks in Germany are becoming German-Turks or Turkish-Germans as their Turkish identity acquires more and more German traits and they in turn import Turkish features into German life. Part four discusses the assimilation of two ethnic groups. Moreover, the social, legal, economic, and political institutions or dealing with the immigration in the two countries are quite different. In American, integration does not necessarily entail complete cultural assimilation. In Germany, migration is interpreted as a temporary change or residence, even long-term immigrants and their children are not perceived as full members of German society if they did not arrived as ethnic Germans.