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This book focuses on the migration and settlement of Albanians and their children in different European cities. It analyses these processes by taking into account intergenerational transmission and views mobility as an inherent characteristic of contemporary lives, even where low-skilled and de-skilled migrants and their descendants are concerned. Building on central concepts in the social sciences and migration studies, such as identity, integration, transnationalism and intergenerational transmission, the book links these notions with the newer, developing theoretical and conceptual frameworks of mobility, translocality and cosmopolitanism. Identification, integration, transnational ties and intergenerational transmission are analysed in relation to institutional aspects of social systems as major factors affecting social relations. They are also seen in relation to time and space, in an effort to address a certain spatial and temporal essentialism that has typically characterized migration studies.

This is the first in a sequence of four ‘results’ chapters. The main focus here is on the role that ethnicity plays in the identity formation processes of both the first and the second generation. As all of the following chapters in this book, it starts with a theoretical discussion of the main concepts—in this case identity and ethnicity. This theoretical discussion is followed by a section on the identities of the first generation and a subsequent section on the identities of the second-generation teenagers. The chapter integrates the findings of this project with literature on identity and ethnicity in different life stages, and on ethnic identity of immigrants and their descendants. The findings show that there are important differences between the first and second generation in how they experience identity. While the first generation experiences its identity mainly in relation to roles and status, the second generation’s identity is mostly focused on age-related emotions and activities, although in-group differences are significant. In terms of ethnic identification, however, one of the main results of this research is that the ethnicity of origin, as least in primordial terms, is not a main reference point in the identification processes of the Albanian migrants and their children. Locality impacts the identification of migrants and their descendants. As mentioned above, city identity and urban culture is important for the identification of these groups, especially in the case of the teenagers. This identificational trend is particularly evident in Florence where teenagers make strong references to the local culture and its universal value.

This chapter, on patterns and dynamics of integration, employs various concepts commonly considered under the umbrella concept of integration. These are referred to here to capture variation in the composition and history of immigration of Albanian immigrants in each country studied. The chapter investigates structural and socio-cultural integration and thus draws from the literature related to each of these types of integration as well as on studies that encompass the two; for example, experiences of the second generation with the educational system. Although the spatial and demographic context plays a significant role in shaping differences in terms of integration across the three sites, the socio-economic background and capital of the first generation appears to affect the integration of both migrants and their children. More importantly, the way the two generations conceive their integration is significantly different: parents and children strive to integrate into different sectors of the receiving society. In very broad terms, social and cultural integration is much more appreciated by the second generation, while the first generation puts most of its efforts into structural integration. The second generation also has a different appreciation of the opportunity structures than the mono-dimensional appreciation by the parents, who aim with their migration project at economic prosperity and education for the children.

This chapter, on the patterns of transnational ties between generations, is broadly based on the finding that transnational ties can vary among different generations and across different research sites. It investigates this variation, describing and analysing the establishment, maintenance and disruption of transnational ties and factors that influence such instances for each of the generations. The findings are analysed in relation to other research in the field. Transnational ties show different patterns between and within the two generations. In the case of the first generation, integration is usually prioritized over transnational ties, especially in terms of distribution of family resources and the orientation towards future life goals. The concepts of ‘transnational ways of being’ and ‘transnational ways of belonging’ find support in the data, although both were found to change over time. Transnational ways of being are common among both the first and the second generation. Transnational ways of belonging are more emphasized among the first generation, although this belonging is mostly to their past in Albania and to their families, rather than a symbolic belongingness expressed in the name of an ethnic group towards a homeland. In turn, the geographical approach, emphasizing space and place and associated mobility tendencies and orientation, is more of a second-generation phenomenon The teenagers are also significantly more prone towards mobility and cosmopolitan imaginaries and practices compared to the first generation.

This chapter’s focus is on the patterns and mechanisms of transmission between generations. The intergenerational transmission of ethnic identity, integration and transnational ties is analysed by examining the relevant processes rather than end-state ‘outcomes’. For example, the intergenerational transmission of transnational ties goes beyond what is already discussed in the literature—that is, whether transnational ties are only a first-generation phenomenon or persist in the second generation. Far from a ‘quantifiable’ process, intergenerational transmission appears here as complex and fragmented. Its features appear to be changing over time, involving redefinitions by both parents and children of concepts, values, practices and their importance. Intergenerational transmission appears as a two-way process, largely conditioned by parents’ capital and experiences of discrimination of both the first and the second generation. Means and strategies of transmission are focused on counteracting stigmatization and are characterized by a lack of focus on ethnic identity and culture of origin, in favour of endowing the second generation with universal values and life-long lessons.

The analysis is rounded off in this chapter, which reviews and answers the research questions summarized in Chap. 1. It also considers implications and avenues for future research in the field. The final main research question of this book deals with the relationship between ethnic identity, integration and transnational ties and the factors that affect this relationship drawing on findings presented in Chaps. 2 through 5. The book ultimately explains identification, integration and the development of transnational ties by referring to agency, power and capital, seen here as contingent on time and space. While the insistence of the parents on their children’s education appears in this study to be an important factor, as in many other studies of the integration of the second generation (e.g., Modood 2004; Zhou 1997b), the main finding of this study is that capital appears in various forms and levels and impacts on integration while different forms of capital are differently important for the first and the second generation. Financial and human capital emerge as important for the first generation, which is able to ascertain through experience that expertise and skills in the workplace will give them more security and increase their agency. As mentioned in Chap. 3, social capital based on individual characteristics that affect socialization, and are derived from peer group networks—an aspect completely ignored in the second-generation literature—is very important for the immigrant-origin adolescents to feel integrated. Mobility appears to be both a form and an outcome of capital and, therefore, an important factor in this cross-generational analysis, pointing towards differences in terms of integration outlooks, aspirations and perceptions of the first and the second generation.