Emotional Integration across Immigrant Generations in Baden‐Württemberg, Germany: the Role of Discrimination
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
| Author | Noah Lewin‐Epstein,Oshrat Hochman,Anna Stein,Thomas Wöhler |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12377 |
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
Emotional Integration across Immigrant
Generations in Baden-W€
urttemberg,
Germany: the Role of Discrimination
Oshrat Hochman*, Anna Stein**, Noah Lewin-Epstein*** and Thomas W€
ohler****
ABSTRACT
Immigrants’integration is a multi-faceted process, involving structural, cultural, social, and
emotional dimensions. This study focuses on the emotional dimension of integration, investigat-
ing immigrants’emotional attachments to their national origin and their host country. Specifi-
cally, we ask what role perceived discrimination plays in shaping identification preferences
among immigrants and immigrant descendants in Germany. The contribution of this study is
twofold: First, we present results for three generations of post-WWII labour migrants of Turkish
and Italian descent. Second, we estimate the consequences of perceived individual discrimina-
tion for national and ethnic identification separately. The findings indicate that while discrimina-
tion is not related to ethnic identification, it is negatively correlated with national identification.
Regarding future challenges, we believe that our findings suggest that the German society can
come closer to achieving integration of migrants by reducing perceptions of rejection by the
immigrant population, or better yet, fighting off discrimination against immigrant minorities.
INTRODUCTION
Assimilation is a multidimensional process that occurs across different spheres of social life. Four
main domains of assimilation are distinguished in the literature: structural assimilation refers to
assimilation into the social structures of society; social assimilation refers to assimilation into social
networks, cultural assimilation implies assimilation into the culture of the receiving society; and
emotional assimilation is manifest primarily in the identificational affinities of immigrants (Esser,
2007). In the current study, we focus on emotional assimilation - ethnic and national identification
preferences –of immigrants and immigrant descendants in Germany with the aim of expanding
current knowledge on this important dimension of assimilation (Diehl and Schnell, 2006; Hochman,
2010; Schulz and Leszczensky, 2015). In particular, we wish to shed light on the role that
perceived discrimination plays in shaping ethnic and national identification among individuals of
Turkish or Italian immigration background.
The association between perceived discrimination and ethnic, as well as national identification,
has been at the heart of the debate about the new second generation, not least due to empirical indi-
cations for retention of ethnic identification among immigrant offspring (Golash-Boza, 2006; Malie-
paard et al., 2010; Skrobanek, 2009). Some studies also show resistance to emotional assimilation
* GESIS Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Mannheim
** Tel Aviv University and T€
ur an T€
ur Integrationsprojekte gGmbH, Augsburg
*** Tel Aviv Univesity
**** University of Konstanz
doi: 10.1111/imig.12377
©2017 The Authors
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 56 (3) 2018
ISS N 00 20- 7985 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
(Jasinskaja-Lahti et al., 2009; Maxwell, 2010) and rising boundaries between second generation
immigrants and the receiving society (e.g. Alba, 2005). Based on the link between rejection and
identification preferences denoted by social identity theory, we hypothesize that perceived discrimi-
nation will moderate the effect of generational affiliation on national and ethnic identification.
The contribution of this study is twofold. First, we investigate the association between perceived
discrimination and emotional assimilation while distinguishing two separate, but related, dimensions
of identification; namely, the ethnic group and the receiving society. Second, using a newly assem-
bled dataset, we are in a position to study the ethnic and national identification of three immigrant
generations.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The roots of the debate about the new second generation can be traced to empirical evidence from the
US indicating that the new second generation challenges the dominant theory of assimilation devel-
oped by Park (1950) and others (Warner and Srole, 1945). These findings paved the way for the emer-
gence of the segmented assimilation theory (Portes and Zhou 1993; Rumbaut, 1994; Zhou, 1999),
which proposes that not all immigrant offspring assimilate into the mainstream of American society.
Instead, some members of the new second generation assimilate into the underclass; and yet others
present a combination of ethnic retention and structural integration (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001).
In terms of emotional integration the debate between the classical and the segmented assimilation
theory can be largely defined in terms of two distinct but interrelated processes: Using concepts
like ethnic competition and selective assimilation, segmented assimilation theory pointed out that
the new second generation does not follow patterns of assimilation and retains high levels of ethnic
identification. Framing such processes as symbolic ethnicity, Gans (1979) proposed, however, that
the retention of ethnic identification does not necessarily imply a break in the process of assimila-
tion. A more central question for the proponents of classical assimilation theory was what happens
with the national identification of the new second generation. The main concern here was that eth-
nic competition and Mainstream perceived discrimination will hinder national identification and
decrease the perceived permeability of the boundaries of the mainstream, which may reduce identi-
fication with the receiving society (Alba and Nee, 1997; Alba, 2005; Gans, 1997).
Ethnic and national identification
In the current study, we adopt the view of contemporary assimilation theory, stressing the impor-
tance of decreasing dissimilarities between immigrants and natives, and of increasing similarities
between them (e.g. Alba and Nee, 1997). We thus acknowledge not only the importance of ethnic
but also that of national identification for the understanding of trajectories in emotional assimilation
(Jasinskaja-Lahti et al., 2009; Verkuyten and Yildiz, 2007). In so doing, we adopt the multicultural
perspective inherent in Berry’s (1990) model of acculturation, where social, cultural and emotional
integration are portrayed as a bi-dimensional process along two analytically distinct but related axes
(Berry, 1997). The first dimension concerns the attachment of the individual to the culture of the
minority group he or she is part of (ethnic identification). The second dimension concerns the
attachment of the individual to the culture of the dominant group (national identification).
Discrimination and identification preferences
Drawing on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1986) and ample empirical evidence found
in its support (e.g. Badea et al., 2015; Verkuyten and Reijerse, 2008) two models have evolved to
Emotional integration across immigrant generations 187
©2017 The Authors. International Migration ©2017 IOM
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