Muslim Integration into Western Cultures: Between Origins and Destinations
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2012.00951.x |
| Author | Pippa Norris,Ronald F. Inglehart |
| Published date | 01 June 2012 |
| Date | 01 June 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
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P O L I T I C A L S T U D I E S : 2 0 1 2 VO L 6 0 , 2 2 8 – 2 5 1
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2012.00951.x
Muslim Integration into Western Cultures:
Between Origins and Destinationspost_951228..251
Pippa Norris
Ronald F. Inglehart
Harvard University/University of Sydney
University of Michigan/Laboratory for Comparative Social Research
To what extent do migrants carry their culture with them, and to what extent do they acquire the culture of their new
home? The answer not only has important political implications; it also helps us understand the extent to which basic
cultural values are enduring or malleable, and whether cultural values are traits of individuals or are attributes of a given
society. The first part of this article considers theories about the impact of growing social diversity in Western nations.
We classify two categories of society: Origins (defined as Islamic Countries of Origin for Muslim migrants, including
twenty nations with plurality Muslim populations) and Destinations (defined as Western Countries of Destination for
Muslim migrants, including 22 OECD member states with Protestant or Roman Catholic majority populations).
Using this framework, we demonstrate that, on average, the basic social values of Muslim migrants fall roughly midway
between those prevailing in their country of origin and their country of destination. We conclude that Muslim
migrants do not move to Western countries with rigidly fixed attitudes; instead, they gradually absorb much of the host
culture, as assimilation theories suggest.
Keywords: Muslim integration; Islamic societies; Western culture
One of the most striking developments in the modern era of globalization is the rapid flow
of people across national borders. The United Nations estimates that, in 2005, 191 million
migrants lived outside their country of birth (roughly 3 per cent of the global population)
(UNDESA, 2006). This figure has doubled since 1960 and continues to rise; today the
estimate is close to 200 million (IOM, 2008). Most move to Western societies; just over two
dozen countries of destination, mainly in Europe, North America and Asia, absorb almost
three-quarters of all migrants around the world. In 2005, among all world regions, Europe
hosted the largest number of international migrants, who represented almost one-tenth of
Europe’s total population (OECD, 2008).
The rapid settlement of Muslim migrants into European societies, in particular, has raised
important challenges for how European policy makers manage cultural diversity, maintain
social cohesion and accommodate minorities (Fetzer, 2004; Heckman, 2005). Recent events
have intensified concerns about the integration of Muslim populations: (1) sharp ethnic
tensions arose in the Netherlands after the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh by Islamic
extremists in November 2004; (2) heated protests broke out in many countries, following
the September 2005 publication of the ‘Muhammad’ cartoons in Denmark: the cartoons
were seen as blasphemous in Islamic countries, while demands for their suppression raised
concerns about freedom of expression in Western countries; and (3) violent riots occurred
a few months later in suburban Paris housing projects involving disaffected Franco-
Maghrebi communities. These concerns were heightened by a series of extreme terrorist
events, particularly by 9/11 in the United States, and the bombings directed against civilian
targets in Madrid (2004), London (2005) and, more recently, Mumbai (2008) (Coolsaet,
2008). The UK was shocked that British-born second-generation Muslim youths of
© 2012 The Authors. Political Studies © 2012 Political Studies Association
B E T W E E N O R I G I N S A N D D E S T I N AT I O N S
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Pakistani and Jamaican descent, with good education and job prospects, were the perpe-
trators of the London bombings. These events raise fears that second-generation Muslims
living in isolated urban communities are becoming alienated from democratic societies and
may be developing closer sympathies with extremist Islamic movements. For some observ-
ers, disaffected Muslims in France, the UK or the Netherlands are seeking to create a society
entirely separate from the mainstream ( Bawer, 2007).
This backdrop highlights the importance of the broader research question that this study
addresses: how far do migrants carry their culture with them, and to what extent do they
acquire the culture of their new setting? The answer not only has important political
implications; it also helps us understand theoretical debates about whether basic cultural
values are enduring or malleable; and whether cultural values are traits of individuals or
attributes of a given society.
To explore these issues, the first part of this article considers alternative arguments about
the potential consequences of the experience of migration for cultural change. Theories of
cultural integration suggest that immigrants gradually absorb the values and norms that
predominate in their host society, especially on an intergenerational basis. By contrast,
theories of divergence suggest that distinctive social values and norms are enduring and
deep-rooted within each nation, shaped by collective histories, common languages and
religious traditions, so that migrant populations are unlikely to abandon their cultural roots
when they settle in another country.We propose to test these claims by examining whether
the basic values of Muslim migrants are closer to those prevailing in their societies of origin
or destination. The second part describes the research design and the empirical evidence
used in this study, drawing upon the World Values Survey/European Values Study (WVS/
EVS) data set, pooled across five waves from 1981 to 2007. The study compares two types
of society: Origins (Islamic Countries of Origin for Muslim migrants, comprising twenty
nations with plurality Muslim populations) and Destinations (Western Countries of Destination
for Muslim migrants, comparing 22 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Devel-
opment (OECD) member states with Protestant or Roman Catholic majority populations)
(see Figure 1).1
Cultures have multiple dimensions and this study focuses on four important indicators.
We analyze attitudes towards gender equality and sexual liberalization, areas in which
previous research has demonstrated that a cultural cleavage divides Islamic and Western
societies (Norris and Inglehart, 2004; Pettersson, 2008). Muslim practices of forced mar-
riages, polygamy, domestic violence and honor killings, as well as patriarchal beliefs about
the traditional roles of women in the family, and the symbolic wearing of the hijab, niqab and
burqa, have proved controversial by conflicting with the more egalitarian gender roles, the
liberal social values and the secular legal frameworks prevailing in Western countries
( Bowen, 2008; Roggeband, 2007). We also compare religious values, where we expect to
find strong contrasts between Muslim migrants and the increasingly secular Western publics
(Norris and Inglehart, 2004). Lastly, the study compares democratic attitudes, representing
important components of civic integration for new citizens in Western countries. Multi-
cultural theories argue that migrants should be engaged in the rights and responsibilities of
democratic citizenship in their host societies, even though they should be free to maintain
distinct cultural identities, practices and beliefs (Kymlicka and Bashir, 2008).
© 2012 The Authors. Political Studies © 2012 Political Studies Association
POLITICAL STUDIES: 2012, 60(2)
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P I P PA N O R R I S A N D RO N A L D F. I N G L E H A RT
Figure 1: The Typological Classification
Notes: ‘Islamic countries of origin’ were classified as those with a plurality Muslim population. ‘Western countries of destination’
were defined as OECD member states with a plurality Protestant or Roman Catholic population. Within each category, individual
Muslims, non-Muslims and Christians were defined by individual religious identities, as monitored in the pooled World Values Survey,
1981–2007.
To analyze the underlying drivers of cultural integration, we examine whether the values
under comparison can be explained by: (1) individual-level Muslim religious identities, con-
trolling for many factors that may shape both social values and transnational mobility,
including levels of education and socio-economic status, marital status, labor force partici-
pation, religiosity, age and gender; or (2) living within Islamic orWestern societies, at macro level,
controlling for world region. Hierarchical linear models (HLM) are employed, specifically
multi-level regression analysis, as the most appropriate technique for examining the strength
of both macro-level and individual-level data simultaneously ( Bickel, 2007; Gelman and
Hill, 2007; Raudenbush and Bryk, 2002). Updating and extending previous research, the
results presented in the third part highlight two major findings.
First, as expected, compared with Western nations, Islamic societies prove highly con-
servative on issues of sexuality and gender equality, including support for egalitarian roles
for women in the home, workforce and public sphere. Islamic societies are also far less
tolerant towards issues of sexual liberalization, as manifested in their attitudes towards
abortion, divorce and homosexuality. Not surprisingly, Islamic societies are also strongly
religious in their values, while by comparison most...
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