A Qualitative Reflection on Social Attitudes and Residential Segregation of Immigrants in Spain

Residential segregation and its causes are vital to our understanding of the integration processes of immigrants in host-country societies. This chapter addresses the issue of residential segregation of immigrants in Spanish society. To do this, after showing the main features of this segregation process, which is characterised more by residential stratification than by spatial separation, we will analyse the different drivers and factors that create and reproduce this segregation: the factor of social class, the importance of ethnic reference networks and, in particular, the role played by the processes of residential ethnic closure arising from group prejudice towards the immigrant population. This analysis is based on both a systematic revision of the academic literature, and the different qualitative research studies carried out in Spain on the topic, including the authors’ own work