Acculturation Preferences of the Turkish Second Generation in 11 European Cities

Abstract

This article examines acculturation preferences of the Turkish second generation in 11 European cities and compares these with expectations of national society comparison group members. Multiple classification analysis (MCA) was used to examine the effects of city of residence, exposure to national society value system, cultural distance, social exclusion and neighbourhood quality on acculturation preferences. MCA was also applied to profile respondents according to background characteristics and dominant acculturation preference style, which is useful for both theory development and design of integration policies for specific target groups. Results show that the majority of the second generation maintain integration preferences, although sub-groups with particular background characteristics such as low educational attainment, experiencing discrimination and living in a low-quality neighbourhood, maintain separation or marginalisation preferences. Contextual factors, notably city of residence, the proxy for national integration policy orientation, seemed more important in explaining acculturation preferences than individual-level factors.