What is integration?

We explain what is integration in various fields. In addition, social, economic, educational, sensory and administration integration.

1. What is integration?

There are different meanings of the word integration. However, as the Spanish Language Dictionary suggests, all possible meanings of that word have to do with the relationship between the whole and its parts or components.

That is to say that integrating generally has to do with forming a larger unit from smaller units, as is the case with the members of a soccer team, with the inverse calculation to the mathematical derivative, or with the acquisition of new concepts by integrating them knowing already constituted.

Thus, every time we talk about integration, in the many areas in which we can do it, we refer to the idea of ​​capturing, adding, entering portions, data, individualities or ideas to a much larger group, in which, we assume , would have a place of their own and could be part of something bigger and meaningful.

It is possible to use this term in social, economic, administrative and educational fields, as we will see separately below.

2. Social integration

There is talk of social integration to refer to the process of incorporating isolated individuals into a majority group or community , often involving their symbolic acceptance, their political representation or the formalization of their ways of life. This is necessary, for example, with people who are marginalized.

These types of processes are usually of the claim type and are often accompanied by an improvement in vital conditions, since the integrated individuals are taken into account.

Specific procedures for social integration can be economic, social, political or even discursive. All have in common the objective that the individuals of a society be an active part of it, that is, they do not constitute outcasts or wandering elements. Integrating into the community as a whole implies enjoying benefits and fulfilling duties.

3. Economic integration

For its part, economic integration has to do with the mutual benefit of nations by abolishing in a reciprocal and organized way the fiscal or commercial barriers that could separate their economies. This integration is given following treaties and conventions.

Thus, integration occurs between economies of different countries, forming more powerful economic blocs , thanks to which to be able to sign more demanding international treaties, and moving towards the mutual benefit of the associated nations. In some cases, organizations also go through economic integration processes.

There are currently numerous blocks of economic integration, such as the ‘Euro’ Zone in Europe, Mercosur, the Andean Pact , among many others, thanks to which countries can organize regionally around principles of mutual economic development.

For example, there is a lot of talk about Latin American integration, not only economic, but political and social, given the historical and cultural similarities between the nations of this region.

4. Administration Integration

In the administrative area, on the other hand, it is common to talk about integration to refer to obtaining and articulating the different resources necessary for the proper functioning of an organization or a company , that is, as a synonym for aggregation to the company or incorporation to the same. These administrative integration processes are classified into two distinct types:

• Integration of human resources , or the recruitment of qualified personnel for the performance of the different tasks of the company, at the different necessary levels, from a process circuit that includes recruitment (approximation of people to the company), selection ( election of the most suitable candidates for each vacant position), introduction (adaptation of the candidate to the company) and development (promotion of employee growth within the company).
• Integration of material resources , also known as the purchasing process, in which the essential goods are acquired to start or sustain the operation of the company, be they tools (machinery, furniture, locations), services (maintenance, updating) or financial resources ( capital and financing).

5. Educational integration

The integration in education (generally linked to the beginning of schooling) is the series of processes and provisions that aim to adapt the child to the community and the educational process . It takes into account their family, social and economic context, through case studies, progress monitoring and various types of study incentives.

This is a complex dynamic, especially in cases of special education for various reasons. Seen this way, the educational integration is the opening of the main or majority pattern of formal education, to accommodate the individual needs of each child , thus achieving to capture and recover those who could have higher probabilities of dropping out of school.

6. Sensory integration

The Theory of Sensory Integration was created by the American neuroscientist A. Jean Ayres in the 1970s from studies of children with learning difficulties. According to this theory, sensory integration is the neurological process of organizing the information reported by the senses, to orchestrate a unified panorama of being and context.

Accordingly, the observable way in which the human being behaves (called the final product ) has to do directly with the functioning of the different sensory systems of the body, and with the capacity for organized integration that the brain can make of various stimuli .

Thus, an occupational therapist trained in the subject could propose a child with difficulties to learn, concentrate, organize mentally or even with weaknesses of self – esteem , a series of sensory experiences to strengthen their sensory integration processes.