1 METROPOLIS CONFERENCE Ponta Delgada/Azores, september 11-16, 2011 Ethnic socialization and radicalization in Dutch minority youth Trees Pels VU University.

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METROPOLIS CONFERENCEPonta Delgada/Azores, september 11-16, 2011

Ethnic socialization and radicalization in Dutch minority youth

Trees PelsVU University Amsterdam

Diana van Bergen - VU University Evelyn Ersanilli - Oxford university

Doret de Ruyter - VU university

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This presentation

• Ethnic socialization = Parental messages/behavior (un)intentionally influencing children’s beliefs, attitudes and behavior regarding ethnicity, race, religion and minority-majority relations

• Relation with proneness to violence to defend ethnic/religious in-group

• In Moroccan-Dutch and Turkish –Dutch families in the Netherlands

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Context: polarization in the Netherlands

• Strong political position of right wing ‘Freedom party’ (‘tolerating’ party)

• Liberal and socio-democratic parties more populist for fear of losing voters

• Increased distrust of cultural and religious ‘otherness’

• Muslims as the ‘negative other’

• Assimilation oriented; distrust of dual socialization/dual loyalty

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Muslims of Moroccan and Turkish descentCommonalities• First immigration wave 1960-1980• Labour migrants• Low educational level• Muslim

Differences• Turkish-Dutch youth: more ingroup-oriented, more internalizing problems• Mor-Dutch youth: higher pace of individualization, more oriented to Dutch society, more practicing as muslims, more externalizing problems

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Ethnic Socialization: parental strategies

1) cultural socialization(How often have your parents said that your (ethnic) origin is important for who you are?)

2) egalitarianism and openness to diversity(How often have your parents said it’s important to appreciate people of diverse ethnicities?)

3) preparation for bias/promotion of mistrust(How often have your parents said other children may exclude you because of your (ethnic) origin?)

(Hughes et al. 2006)

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Radicalization: aspects studied

• dissociation from mainstream society(Being Dutch is not important in my life) (Tropp et al., adapt. Stevens et al. 2007)

• perceived Muslim superiority(Islam is better than other religions)

• (perceived) injustice and discrimination (People of my background or religion are discriminated against in the

Netherlands)

• willingness to use violence to defend in-group (Would you ever use violence to defend your background or religion?)(Van den Bos, Loseman & Doosje 2009)

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Design, Methods, Sample

Two phases: 1. school based survey among adolescents2. qualitative interviews among a selection of

adolescents scoring high and low on proneness to violence, and among their parents

This presentation: first results phase 1 • 307 Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch

students, aged 14-18 years old, enrolled in 9 schools

• results: 3 strategies of ethnic socialization; relation with 4 aspects of radicalization (multivariate regressions)

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Hypotheses

• Egalitarianism is negatively related to radicalization

• Bias/mistrust is positively related to radicalization

• Cultural socialization is not related to radicalization (concerns in-group only)

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Results 1Ethnic Socialization Dutch Minority Parents• In line with US research (Hughes et al. 2008), cultural socialization and egalitarianism more common than practices of bias and mistrust

• Cultural socialization more common among Turkish parents

• Egalitarianism more often emphasized by Moroccan parents

• Bias/Mistrust equally strong in both groups

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Results 2Ethnic Socialization and Radicalization in Minority Youth

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Results 3Ethnic Socialization and Radicalization in Minority YouthAdolescents with parents strongly emphasizing bias/cultural mistrust:

Feel less connected with Dutch society (M+T)

Perceive more injustice and discrimination against their in-group (M+T)

Are more willing to apply violence (T)

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Results 4Ethnic Socialization and Radicalization in Minority YouthAdolescents with parents emphasizing cultural loyalty to in-group:

Feel less connected with majority Dutch population (T+ M)

More feelings of religious superiority (T+M)

Perceive more injustice /discrimination (M)

More prone to violence to defend in-group (T+M)

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Conclusions: Ethnic Socialization and Radicalization in Dutch Minority Youth

Hypotheses 1 and 2 corroborated• Egalitarianism is negatively related to radicalization (T3, M1)• Bias/mistrust is positively related to radicalization (T3, M2)

Hypothesis 3 is not corroborated• Cultural socialization is positively related to

radicalization (T3, M4)

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Discussion

• Dual loyalty (in-group – host society) universally most dominant (and ‘healthy’) mode of acculturation (e.g. Berry et al. 2006)

• If in-group loyalty is not tolerated/assimilation is enforced, cultural socialization becomes an act of opposition and may be a stepping stone to radicalization

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References

Berry, J.W., Phinney, J.S., Sam, D.L., & Vedder, P. (2006). Immigrant youth: acculturation, identity and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55(3), 303-332.

Van den Bos, K., Loseman, A. & Doosje, B. (Eds.). (2009). Waarom jongeren radicaliseren en sympathie krijgen voor terrorisme: Onrechtvaardigheid, onzekerheid en bedreigde groepen. The Hague: Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice.

Hughes, D., Rodriguez, J., Smith, E.P., Johnson, D.J., Stevenson, H.C., & Spicer, P. (2006). Parents' racial/ethnic socialization practices: A review of research and agenda for future study. Developmental Psychology, 42(5), 747 - 770.

Hughes, D., Rivas, D. Foust, M., Hagelskamp, C., Gersick, S., & Way, N. (2008). How to catch a moonbeam: A mixed-methods approach to understanding ethnic socialization in ethnically diverse families. In S. Quintana & C. McKnown (Eds.) Handbook of race, racism, and child development. New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

Stevens, G.W.J.M., Vollebergh, W.A.M., Pels, T. & Crijnen, A. (2007). Problem behavior and acculturation in Moroccan immigrant adolescents in the Netherlands: Effects of gender and parent-child conflict. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 38, 310-317.