FORMIG
BAVARIAN RESEARCH NETWORK ON MIGRATION AND KNOWLEDGE
7 Ethnic identity and the acquisition of social capital
Objective
Ethnic separation and therefore ethnic identity are essential for the cohesion of societies. This project measures ethnic identity as a multidimensional construct and the individual relevance of its components. This yields to a more realistic description of immigrants in Germany compared to the unidimensional construct. In a second step we will analyse the relationship between ethnic identity and other fundamental fields of integration. The major research question is if current immigrants assimilate as in former times the Huguenots and the so called “Ruhrpolen” did, if they keep their country-of-origin identity or develop new identities.
Method
First of all we are analyzing the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data. Then we will conduct a seperate representative survey among Turkish migrants and “Aussiedler” (Resettles from the former Soviet Union with German origin) to get more detailed information. Due to their unique history “Aussiedler” are particularly adequate to examine the different influences of culture and descent on ethnic identity.
Implementation
This project gives an empirical contribution to the theoretical discussions on the dimensions and causes of ethnic identity. These findings provide new insight for e.g. the controversy about the forms and the progress of integration of second generation immigrants. The knowledge of crucial factors and mechanisms driving integration will be highly relevant for policy makers.