This study contributes to the growing literature on social and ethnic boundaries by
tracing the impact of symbolic language boundaries in 20 European countries. Using
data from the 2002–03 wave of the European Social Survey, we show that the language
boundaries drawn in different host societies affect the subjective well-being of first and
second-generation immigrants. Confirming theoretical expectations, we find that
symbolic boundaries only influence those individuals with limited proficiency in the
majority language. Moreover, applying a distinction from theories of ethnic boundary making,
we show that it is primarily the contestedness of language boundaries within a
society, rather than their strength, that influences subjective well-being. This finding
provides indirect evidence for a major hypothesis: that disagreement over the social
location of ethnic boundaries will make them politically salient; this, in turn, affects the
well-being of individuals whose status is at stake.
