The concept of social capital, as well as the concept of globalization, constitutes a form of scientific revolution and functions as a methodological connection between social sciences, mainly between economics (contribution to development, market imperfections, transaction costs), political science (institutions, political behavior), and sociology (values, norms). Focused on the relationship between social capital and integration, the texts in this volume offer remarkable empirical findings as well as fertile ground for further development and deepening of the relevant research field.

Given that immigrants are not just labor force but people, often with the prospect of settling in the host country. The stabilization of the quantitative and qualitative composition of the immigrant stock in Greece shifts the research interest from the determinants of immigration inflows to the process and status of immigrants' integration in the host country.

This volume examines the relationship between social capital and the immigration process, the significance of granting citizenship to foreigners within the framework of an active public policy of immigrant integration, and the thematic and chronological sequence of the authors' and researchers' interest in the phenomenon of immigration, and specifically in the process and status of integration, in Greece in recent years. The relevant discussion is based on the comparative study of two main national groups of foreigners in Greece - Albanians and Pontians - as well as national immigration policies of European countries in relation to Greece.