Integration Practice and Perspectives

The study ¿Integration Practice and Perspectives¿ was focused on the processes of integration in society and the main integration agents in Latvia. There were five areas of research which help to study the main integration agents: (1) The role of the press in constructing collective identities, (2) A study of the dynamics of political integration, (3) NGO sector as an agent for public integration, (4) The positions of the political elite vis-à-vis issues of public integration, (5) A study of the processes of public integration. The study included both theoretical and empirical parts. The theoretical part of the study was devoted to the theoretical understanding of such concepts as ¿nation state¿, ¿national minorities¿, ¿multiculturalism¿ and ¿acculturation¿. The theory of John W. Berry on acculturation strategies and expectations on acculturation was a base for the qualitative and quantitative study of the processes of public integration.