Multiculturalism among minority and majority adolescents in the Netherlands

Abstract

The extent of culture maintenance by ethnic minority groups and their adaptation to majority group culture are two issues central to everyday thinking about multiculturalism. Using Social Identity Theory and a two-dimensional acculturation model as theoretical frameworks, the present study examines the attitudes of Dutch and Turkish adolescents in the Netherlands. Turkish adolescents were strongly in favor of culture maintenance, which was not seen to be contradictory to adaptation. In contrast, the Dutch were less in favor of culture maintenance and more in favor of adaptation, and saw these issues as mutually exclusive. In addition, among the Turks ethnic identification was positively related to culture maintenance and was not related to adaptation. Among the Dutch, identification was related negatively to culture maintenance and positively to adaptation. Furthermore, the perception and interpretation of responsibility for group discrimination affected the Turks views on multiculturalism. Agreement with cultural adaptation was lowest, among Turkish participants who strongly identified with their ethnic background as well as attributed discrimination to the out-group.