Ethnic-minority climbers: Evaluating “minority cultures of mobility” as a lens to study Dutch minority student organizations

The increasing discomfort with ethnic diversity in many countries is paralleled by the emergence of middle classes consisting of second-generation immigrants who articulate their minority identities. This calls for an enhanced understanding of the experiences and identifications of social climbers with minority backgrounds. In this article, I explore the relevance of the idea of a “minority culture of mobility” (MCM) as a lens to look at these processes of integration, using the case of Dutch student organizations with ethnicminority signatures. Based on parallels with the literature, I conclude that the MCM is a useful framework, also for contexts outside the United States. At the same time, observed variations between ethnic groups and changes over time within the Dutch context lay down a research agenda in order to further refine the model

Trots en uitsluiting

Is de vraag ''Waar kom je vandaan'' altijd even onschuldig? Marieke Slootman laat zien dat de nadruk op etniciteit in veel gevallen bijdraagt aan uitsluiting

Ethnic Identity, Social Mobility and the Role of Soulmates

Based on a study among higher-educated adult children of lower-class Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands, this open access book explores processes of identification among social climbers with ethnic minority backgrounds. Using both survey data and open interviews with these ‘minority climbers’, the study details the contextual and temporal nature of identification. The results illustrate how ethnicity is contextual but have tangible and inescapable effects at the same time. Also the findings call for a more reflexive use of terms like ethnic ingroup/outgroup and bonding/bridging. Overall, the book helps us understand the emergence of middle-class segments that articulate their minority identities and as such it will be of great interest to academics, policy makers and all those interested in processes of integration and/or diversity

Substantive signifiers? Ethnic and religious identifications among second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands

In the context of increasingly ‘culturalised’ discourses on immigrant integration in Europe, this article aims to contribute to a de-essentialised understanding of ethnic and religious identity. Based on the analysis of quantitative data, it reveals the multifarious relationship between identification and culture among second-generation Turkish and Moroccan Dutch in the Netherlands. Some instances of self-identification with nominal labels (‘Turkish’ and ‘Muslim’) appear to go hand in hand with stronger sociocultural orientations in daily life and are more substantive; others (‘Moroccan’) do not. These findings point to different social mechanisms at work in shaping identifications with certain identity labels and once more illustrate that ethnic and religious identifications do not necessarily reflect cultural ‘otherness’

Soulmates: Reinvention of ethnic identification among higher educated second generation Moroccan and Turkish Dutch

To some, it is surprising when higher educated ethnic minorities identify with their ethnicity. After all, social mobility often requires high levels of adaptation to the society of residence. How then, and why, is this combined with ethnic identification? And why do higher educated individuals with minority backgrounds ‘still’ appreciate the bonds with co-ethnics? This book explores ethnic identification among social climbers with ethnic minority backgrounds. In particular, it focuses on the ethnic identifications of university educated adult children of Moroccan and Turkish immigrants. How strongly do they identify with the ethnic labels ‘Moroccan’ and ‘Turkish’? Does this reduce their identification as Dutch, as some people fear? In what situations do they articulate their ethnic identity, and why? How does their identification develop over time? And, in what ways is their ethnic background relevant for them? Based on a mixed methods approach, this study provides answers to these questions. Results from a structured survey and in-depth interviews reveal that feeling ‘Moroccan’, ‘Turkish’ can be strong among minority climbers but does not necessarily threaten their identification as ‘Dutch’. These results show that identification with these labels has different meanings for different people, and they show how these identifications and meanings depend on time and social context. Specifically, a trajectory of ‘reinvention of ethnic identification’ is identified, in which co-ethnic, higher educated soulmates appear to play crucial roles. This helps us understand why social climbers enter the middle-classes who do not discard their ethnic distinctiveness