National disidentification and minority identity : A study among Muslims in Western Europe

Host national disidentification in which immigrants explicitly distance themselves from society is problematic for a cohesive national community and is likely to hamper immigrants’ successful host society integration. Among Sunni Muslim immigrants of Turkish origin living in Germany and the Netherlands we tested whether (a) an empirical distinction between national disidentification and identification can be made, (b) whether higher perceived group discrimination of Muslims (“reactive religiosity path”) and (c) stronger Muslim self-centrality (“intrinsic religiosity path”) are associated with stronger host national disidentification, to the extent that they are associated with a stronger commitment to religious identity content. Disidentification was found to be a separate construct and both the reactive religiosity path and the intrinsic religiosity path were found to be related to higher levels of disidentification, mediated by religious identity

National disidentification and minority identity : A study among Muslims in Western Europe

Host national disidentification in which immigrants explicitly distance themselves from society is problematic for a cohesive national community and is likely to hamper immigrants’ successful host society integration. Among Sunni Muslim immigrants of Turkish origin living in Germany and the Netherlands we tested whether (a) an empirical distinction between national disidentification and identification can be made, (b) whether higher perceived group discrimination of Muslims (“reactive religiosity path”) and (c) stronger Muslim self-centrality (“intrinsic religiosity path”) are associated with stronger host national disidentification, to the extent that they are associated with a stronger commitment to religious identity content. Disidentification was found to be a separate construct and both the reactive religiosity path and the intrinsic religiosity path were found to be related to higher levels of disidentification, mediated by religious identity

Cultural Integration in the Muslim Second Generation in the Netherlands : The Case of Gender Ideology

In the Netherlands, relations between Muslims and non-Muslims have become polarized around issues of religion and gender. On the basis of a dataset with 669 parent-child dyads, we assess attitudes among the second generation concerning the gendered division of paid work and family responsibilities, that is, gender ideology, as compared to their parents. The aggregate picture indicates movement toward more egalitarian attitudes, indicating mainstream assimilation. At the same time, a sizeable subgroup turns out to be more traditional than their parents, indicative of reactive ethnicity. Embeddedness in the ethnic community and education are shown to explain part of these divergent patterns

Islamic gatherings: experiences of discrimination and religious affirmation across established and new immigrant communities

To what extent are perceptions of discrimination associated with religious affirmation among Muslim minorities in the Netherlands? Drawing on recent nationally representative surveys among self-identified Muslims from five ethnic groups in the Netherlands, we test boundary conditions of reactive religiosity. Our findings indicate that for Muslims from established immigrant groups, perceptions of discrimination are associated with more frequent religious attendance, but that this is not the case for Muslims from smaller, less established ethnic communities. Findings are interpreted using a boundary framework

Religion and new immigrants' labor market entry in Western Europe

This paper analyzes the effects of religious participation upon a major socio-economic integration outcome, namely employment, among recent Christian and Muslim newcomers in three Western European destination countries: Germany, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. The paper revisits theoretical arguments about religious participation as an ethnic investment strategy or, alternatively, as a bridge to the societal mainstream. Drawing on the longitudinal dataset produced in the international survey project on ‘Socio-cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe’ (SCIP), the paper puts these arguments to a rigorous test by analyzing effects of involvement in religious communities on employment and by scrutinizing channeling effects of the ethnic composition of religious congregations for recent migrants’ entry into mainstream versus ethnic niche economies. The paper finds only limited support for either of the two arguments, suggesting that religious participation is structurally decoupled from socio-economic integration. However, persisting net employment gaps between recent Christian and Muslim immigrants might indicate the existence of religiously marked and socio-economically consequential boundaries in Western Europe

Islamic gatherings : experiences of discrimination and religious affirmation across established and new immigrant communities

To what extent are perceptions of discrimination associated with religious affirmation among Muslim minorities in the Netherlands? Drawing on recent nationally representative surveys among self-identified Muslims from five ethnic groups in the Netherlands, we test boundary conditions of reactive religiosity. Our findings indicate that for Muslims from established immigrant groups, perceptions of discrimination are associated with more frequent religious attendance, but that this is not the case for Muslims from smaller, less established ethnic communities. Findings are interpreted using a boundary framework

Out-group trust and conflict understandings:the perspective of Turks and Kurds in Turkey

Yayın, Siyaset Bilimi ve Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü ile ortak hazırlanmıştır; ancak tekrara düşmemek için ilk yazarın bölümü alınmıştır.Conflict reconciliation is difficult in the absence of out-group trust. The current study is concerned with the prolonged Turkish–Kurdish conflict in Turkey and examines out-group trust among both ethnic Kurds and ethnic Turks, in relation to perceptions and interpretations of the conflict (i.e. conflict frames, attributions of responsibility, and justified in-group violence), and to their ethnic and national identification. The results indicate that, across groups, participants had lower out-group trust when they agreed more that the conflict was between ethnic Turks and Kurds, when they blamed the other ethnic group more, and when they considered the in-group violence more justified. In addition, for the Kurds, higher national identification, stronger endorsement of the terrorism frame, higher responsibility attribution to the PKK and lower attributed responsibility to foreign powers were associated with higher trust of the Turks. In contrast, for the Turks, higher national identification and lower attributed responsibility to foreign powers were associated with lower trust of the Kurds

Contextualizing religious acculturation: Cross-cultural perspectives on Muslim minorities in Western Europe

Given the growing presence of Islam in Europe, we developed a research program articulating minority perspectives on acculturation and religion among self-identified Muslims across Europe. Integrating different cross-cultural perspectives on religious acculturation, we ask how acculturation contexts and processes affect the religiosity of Muslims (a) across heritage and mainstream cultures, (b) across different acculturating groups, and (c) across different receiving societies. Based on various large-scale datasets, collected among (young) Muslim populations from different ethnic backgrounds in four European countries, we conclude that religious decline in European societies is largely absent. A comparison across cultures of origin and destination suggests the reaffirmation of religion in acculturating youth, who are more strongly identified with their religion than comparison groups in both mainstream and heritage cultures. Cross-ethnic comparisons indicate that religious socialization is most effective in more cohesive acculturating groups. Finally, cross-national comparisons provide evidence of more strict forms of religiosity in societies with less welcoming intergroup climates. Together, the cross-cultural findings extend a well-established bi-dimensional conceptualization of acculturation to the religious domain.status: publishe