This book looks at the structure of the connections and contacts between immigrants living in smaller towns and rural areas of Spain, and how these networks contribute to their integration and collective welfare. The immigrant population is attaining a growing prominence in the small communities that are the object of the study. The primary data for the quantitative side of the project were gathered in the field by applying an innovative questionnaire that compiles information on third persons (those who have received or provided help) and the structure of the relations between them.

The intention of the authors is to characterize the individuals intervening in immigrants’ personal networks in their place of destination and the kind of relationships they form. The data thus collected reveal patterns of conduct whose main explanatory variable is the immigrant’s nationality. They also suggest certain necessary directions for public policies, such as language training assistance so immigrants can master the recipient language(s); awareness training for Spanish and foreign nationals about ethnic and cultural diversity; more measures to get to the most isolated sectors of the immigrant community; and an analysis of whether the resources devoted to the population at risk of exclusion are meeting their objectives.