Migration implies that migrants meet with the communities-of-place they have moved to. Such social interaction is frequently troubled by differences in institutions for social conduct. This paper defines such institutions as habitualised practices. Drawing on Berger and Luckmann's (1967) ideas on institutions and socialisation, the analysis focuses on what happens to such institutions when migrants meet with people belonging to the community-of-place to which they have moved. The empirical base consists of a comparison between two studies carried out by the author: one of everyday life social interaction between in-migrants and communities-of-place in Dutch rural neighbourhoods, the other of the work ethic of migrant and domestic workers in Scottish agriculture. Interaction between migrants and people belonging to the communities-of-place to which they have moved can produce different relationships between their respective institutions. People belonging to the communities-of-place in the Dutch study do not hold rigidly to some elements of their institutions while they hold on more rigidly to others. The Scottish study showed that farmer-employers even prefer the work ethic of migrants, and at the same time there has been some evidence that the work ethic of domestic workers evolves in the direction of that of migrants. © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Migration Communities-of-place Social interaction Institutions social integration socialisation

rural population United Kingdom rural area immigrant Eurasia Western Europe rural society neighborhood Europe social behavior Scotland