Inequality of Opportunity for Migrants’ Children in Europe: A Focus on Second Generations

The central purpose of this literature review concerns the educational outcomes of second-generation immigrants. The performances of immigrants’ children reveal interesting information about the efficacy of European immigration and integration policies as well as about the role of their family backgrounds. I firstly briefly review the most relevant theories of social justice through the lenses of equality and inequality of opportunity. Then I will identify the common ground between those theories and migration studies. The major findings lead to family background and country’s institutional setup as crucial determinants of disadvantageous conditions faced by immigrants’ children.