Migration - How social policies shape life chances of migrants

Migration is a core issue of the social sciences, including sociology, social policy and social work, and yet, the impact of social policies on the life chances of migrants has to date not received much attention. In this editorial contribution, we introduce this theme by first outlining migration as an axis of inequality and how welfare states, as systems of stratification, approach inequality. We then discuss the stratification of migrants’ social rights in the context of intersecting immigration and welfare regimes. Doing this, we introduce the different contributions to this themed issue of socialpolicy.ch. Finally, we introduce the Migrant Integration Policy Index as a starting point to study how migration and social policies shape migrants’ life chances regarding different spheres and in different national contexts.