The Cantonal Delegate for Immigration was asked to elaborate a model and concept of action for a future integration policy within the framework of the ethnologic seminar held at the Basle University and of the government priority program on the "integration and development policy of the city." A reflection conducted to this end on emigration themes showed that the immigrants’ culture was not to be considered only from an ethnological point of view, but within a more socio-economic problematic. Using the example of the town of Basle, we highlight which mechanisms generate social inequality and the inhibiting factors of integration.