framework
The main objective of the doctoral thesis is to discuss the integration conditions of migrants’ attitudinal integration into the German host society political system in internal/cognitive as well as external/evaluative terms (i.e. to gain a self-concept as political actor, to be satisfied with the regime and to identify with the national political comunity).
Referring to the hybrid panel regression results in Chapter 3 and 4, it seems reasonable to conclude line with theoretical expectations in Chapter 2 that migrants’ cultural, social, structural, as well as emotional inclusion relate to the German host society (i.e. national identification) are main driving forces for their political interest. Due to different immigrant populations involved in Germany, also separate group analyses are calculated in Chapter 3 and 4. These subgroup analyses indeed show some ethnic group-related results with respect to the effects of social and cultural capital indicators of the thesis. Thus, contrary to expectations in Section 1.4.1 the effect of majority language on interest in receiving country politics is stronger
for recently-arrived Turks. Moreover, there is statistical indication that there is only a negative effect of ethnic bonding within associational involvement for new immigrants from Poland but not from Turkey. Relatedly, political interest is for Turks significantly increased by informal social capital in the form of contacts with natives. Due to the positive effects that native contacts and language proficiency also exert in Chapter 4 on general political interest, the thesis concludes that cultural and social capital in form of majority language proficiency and interethnic contacts significantly matter for migrant’s political interest in the receiving country. This findings are consistent with previous (mainly cross-sectional) research (e.g. Eggert and Giugni 2010, Janmaat 2008).
The thesis primarily contributes to existing literature in outlining the impact of emotional capital and its interrelation with cultural and social capital. For migrants’ receiving country-specific political interest, empirical analyses in Chapter 3 prove that national identification has an independent positive effect on political interest for recently immigrated Poles as well as for Turks. However, stepwise regression analyses also evince in line with expectations in Section 1.4.1 indirect effects of national identification. Thus, majority language proficiency interethnic contacts party mediate the national identity effect for Turks. That is because the national identity effect is reduced conditioning on these variables, as well as both indicators significantly predict the outcome. Moreover, separate regression analyses on interethnic contacts as well as language proficiency show a significant independent effect of national identification. Apart from indirect effects, the analyses also document as expected moderator effects, i.e. that impact of national identity (it’s partial slope) is depending on levels of majority language and associational involvement. Thus, with increasing language skills, the effect if national identification increases for Turks. In contrast, when gaining associational membership, national identification positively predicts political interest among Poles but negatively among Turkish immigrants. The negative effect might be due to experiences of social distance and stigmatisation that Turks may encounter in voluntary associations of the host society. This evokes national identity conflicts and thus social participation may mitigate the effect of national identification.
Besides national identity, Chapter 4 on “general political interest” also empirically highlights in line with considerations in Section 1.4.1 that under the condition of perceived discrimination a combined dual ethno-national identity may function as emotional capital that enhances interest in politics in contrast to an assimilated or segregated identity. With respect to group specific effects between Turkish, Ex-Yugoslavian and Southern European immigrant
groups, subgroup as well as interaction analyses find that the dual identity effect conditional on discrimination only significantly applies to the Turkish migrant group.
In sum, the thesis concludes that emotional inclusion processes independently as well as in combination and relation with social and cultural inclusion processes predict migrants’ inclination to develop an internal political self-conception in terms of becoming interested in its political issues (e.g. policy, politics, polity). Nonetheless, it also documents that not only host country-related psychological inclusion provides emotional capital for migrants’ inclination to become interested in and possibly active in the political system of Germany, but also in combination with psychological inclusion in ethnic group. Dual identity is not only the most common form of self-identification of migrants (e.g. Verkuyten 2005, 158). Moreover, because its infuelnce is conditional on perceived discrimination, which is often met by recent as well as long-term immigrants, it may be a main pathway for migrants’ political integration in Europeans receiving society.
With respect to migrants’ external attitudinal inclusion, their satisfaction with the
democratic regime in Germany, the empirical study in Chapter 5 confirms in line with
considerations in Section 1.4.2 that social, structural and emotional inclusion processes of migrants with reference to host society are also main predictors (majority language proficiency as cultural capital could not be tested due to gaps in SOEP data in 2010 and 2005). Thus, it shows in line with theory that migrants’ national identification, job status, as well as contacts with natives have independent effects on immigrants’ democracy satisfaction. Moreover, perceived discrimination as important underlying mechanism decreases migrants’ democracy satisfaction in line with assumptions. With respect to the religion as main condition, the analysis also documents the suggested independent positive effect of religious attendance on regime evaluations. In contrast to this dimension of religion, self-considered religious (i.e. Muslim) affiliation rather exerts conditional effects depending on the ethnic group membership of the individual migrant. Thus, the test of interactions terms as well as subgroup analyses reveal that it negatively predicts democracy satisfaction for immigrants from Turkey, while it positively predicts democracy satisfaction of for the other non-Turkish immigrants (from Eastern and Western EU states as well as other non-EU countries). Besides the negative effect of Muslim affiliation for second-generation Turks subgroup analyses also corroborate a negative interaction between frequent religious attendance and Muslim affiliation. Thus, the positive effect of frequent religious attendance on Turkish immigrants’ democracy satisfaction is getting smaller in the case of self-identifying as Muslim in comparison to a Christian self-identification.
At the same time, it applies that a Muslim self-identification leads to lesser democracy satisfaction among Turks, when they frequently visit the mosque.
Concerning the development of a sense of national group membership, Chapter 2 evinces no large differences between newcomers from Poland or Turkey concerning the general conducive impact of their cultural and social assimilation as well as the hampering effect of perceiving discrimination for their emotional assimilation. Only the negative effect of perceived discrimination is stronger for Turks than for Poles. No effect of economic integration as suggested in Section 1.4.3 can be found. Yet, the analyses find considerable differences between Turkish and Polish immigrants in their social assimilation and their perceptions of discrimination and value compatibilities over time that determin a general decline if Turks’ and Poles’ increase in national identification over the length of stay in Germany. Thus, for instance, while the social assimilation increases for Poles, it stagnates for Turks. Moreover, the perception of discrimination increases considerably for recent immigrants from Poland. Those initial conditions partly account for the different identity trajectories of newly arrived Turks and Poles over time.