There is a negative correlation between degree of religiosity and level of education among Jovenlandeses
- In the case of Muslim immigrants, a negative correlation is observed: the degree of religiosity increases as the level of education decreases. In contrast, among native Christians, an inverse correlation is observed, i.e., an increase in religiosity with the level of education
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For two-thirds of Jovenlandeses of Turkish origin, non-Muslim daughters-in-law, but especially non-Muslim sons-in-law, represent a major problem and would ultimately be unacceptable
- Religion also has a strong impact on the private sphere of marriage, partnership and parenthood. For a considerable number of Jovenlandeses living in Germany, it is very important that their spouse belongs to the same religious community (Sackmann, 2001). Şen and Sauer report that for two-thirds of Jovenlandeses of Turkish origin, non-Muslim daughters-in-law, but especially non-Muslim sons-in-law, represent a major problem and would ultimately not be acceptable. This is also confirmed by Heckmann et al. (2000) and Worbs and Heckmann (2003). According to these studies, young people of Muslim confession also attach great importance to having a partner of the same religion, so that Muslim women (presumably as a reaction to the higher normative expectations that parents have in this regard) place more value on it than Muslim men
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Jovenlandeses face integration problems in all countries
- A qualitative study conducted by Klausen (2005) with 300 Muslim leaders in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Germany, who participate in political parties or social organizations, concluded that the problems of integration of the Muslim population are recognizable in all these countries, although they present specific national characteristics
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The excuse of xenophobia is not valid to justify these integration problems
- There was unanimous reference to negative portrayals of Jovenlandeses in the media, as well as to xenophobic parties. However, only 23.9% of respondents were totally dissatisfied with the general treatment of Jovenlandeses. Most of the elites were in favor of staying in the respective host country
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Church-State separation and privileges
- More than half favor anti-discrimination legislation that takes religion into account, ahead of reforms in church-state relations and the introduction of employment quotas for Arabs
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Islamic education in German schools
- "Şen and Sa uer (2006a) found that a large majority of Jovenlandeses are in favor of Islamic religious education, which is apparently understood not only as religious education but also as cultural education"
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22% of Jovenlandeses do not support Church-State separation
- As for the basic political views of the Jovenlandeses interviewed here, their relationship to the fundamental democratic principles of the host German society, these surveys also allow for some observations. For example, the separation of state and religion is fully supported by 63% of the Jovenlandeses of Turkish origin surveyed and somewhat supported by 8% (Şen & Sa uer, 2006). Eighteen percent do not believe that such separation is correct and 4% think it is not good, so there are more than one-fifth who oppose such separation of religion and politics
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Younger Jovenlandeses are more likely to disagree with a secular stance
- They also found an age correlation: Jovenlandeses aged 60 and older were the most likely to agree with a secular stance. This is not really reassuring either, as it places the potential for a political turn toward religion in the very group that is most active and whose integration would be of particular interest
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Nearly half of Islamic youth in the 1990s had pretensions of superiority centered on Islam
- Already in the 1990s, the study by Heitmeyer et al. focused on the question of the importance of Islamic organizations and associations. In almost half of Islamic youth, the authors identified attitudes characterized by Islam-centered claims of superiority. They are clearly more noticeable among young people whose opportunities for social participation and future options are worse. In addition, orientations characterized by a religious disposition to the use of violence were also analyzed. In about one third of the young people, these attitudes could be identified, which were closely related to Islam-centered superiority claims on the one hand and traditional-conservative views on the other, and were found more frequently among Islamic youth with a low educational level
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There is no empirical evidence that contacts with the host society generate the desire for more contacts.
- The hypothesis that existing contacts with the host society generate the desire for more contacts could not be empirically supported here. According to these results, an equal proportion, about 2% each, are in voluntary or involuntary isolation, which quite contradicts the perceptions that strongly shape the public discourse (Sauer & Goldberg, 2006, p. 119)
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Globally radicalized Jovenlandeses, on average, are more educated and wealthier
- At the international level, Gallup recently reported, with reference to the results of nationally representative global surveys, that among Jovenlandeses in 10 majority-Muslim countries surveyed, about 7% could be described as radicalized. The criterion for defining them as "political radicals" was the claim that the 9/11 attacks were completely justified, combined with a negative or very negative attitude toward the United States. It is striking that this group of Jovenlandeses defined as politically radicalized in this way is, on average, more educated and wealthier than Jovenlandeses who do not hold these views (cf. Mogahed, 2006c, p. 2; Esposito and Mogahed, 2007)
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Young Jovenlandeses are much less inclined to adapt their behavior to German cultural conditions than the Muslim population in general
- Young Jovenlandeses, with 45.5%, are much less in favor of adapting their behavior to the conditions of German culture than the Muslim population in general (where this rate was 82.6%). In contrast, the advocacy of a retreat into one's own group in order to preserve cultural identity and customs is more common among young Jovenlandeses (25.5%) than among the general Muslim population (17.7%). On the other hand, the proportion of those who advocate a separation of different ethnic groups and immigrant groups in order to avoid conflict is approximately the same as in the general Muslim population, 9% (17.7%)
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There is a tendency towards segregation. In none of the groups is full integration into German culture accepted
- Group 1, comprising 41.7% of Muslim youth, can - like the general population survey - be adequately characterized with the term "demand for acceptance". In addition to advocating the maintenance of the culture of the country of origin, young people in this group clearly reject ethnic separation for the sake of cultural preservation or conflict avoidance. This unites them with the youth in group 3 and clearly distinguishes groups 1 and 3 from group 2. In contrast to group 3, however, the young people in group 1 clearly reject the adaptation of their behavior to German culture.
In this sense, they demand to be able to remain in their own idiosyncrasy and cultural otherness without wanting to separate and segregate themselves, which can be interpreted as a demand for acceptance of their different culture and their own behavioral traditions by the environment of the receiving society. Cluster 3, which constitutes about one third of the young Jovenlandeses (32.9%), is characterized by the fact that, in addition to preserving their own culture, an adaptation of their behavior to the culture of the host country, Germany, is seen as positive, while a social withdrawal into their own group or cultural segregation is clearly rejected. This group is aptly described by the term "integration/adaptation", as it formulates the clearest tendencies towards a willingness to adapt, while emphasizing their cultural uniqueness. Complete assimilation, i.e., adaptation by renouncing the native culture, is not found in any of the groups.
About a quarter of the young people (25.4%) in group 2 show a combination of attitudes clearly advocating withdrawal into one's own group in order to preserve one's own culture. Compared to the other two groups, the attitude towards segregation in order to avoid conflict is also somewhat more positive here, although on a scale that is still very little in favor of such segregation in tendency. In this sense, the term "tendency toward segregation" is appropriate, since it is not a question of a complete withdrawal from the host society, but of an increase in tendencies in this direction. The ambivalence in this group can also be seen in the fact that the advocacy of adaptation to the host society
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Forty percent of young people speak with their friends in their mother tongue, and 67.4% with their family
- To record the linguistic dimension of integration into German society, measures of language performance were collected. Respondents were asked how often they spoke German with their friends, how much they spoke German with their family, what proportion of their magazine/newspaper reading was in German, and what proportion of the television programs they watched was in German. As expected, the mother tongue is spoken much more in families than among friends. Almost two-thirds of Muslim youths speak only German or more often German as their mother tongue among their friends. In the family, on the other hand, only 32.6% speak German
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Young people demand more acceptance of their culture than adults, but are less willing to integrate than adults
- The group demanding acceptance has a 50.5% share among Muslim youth, but only 15.8% among the general population. On the other hand, group integration/adaptation accounts for only 27.9% among young people, while in the general population it accounts for 61.0%. Consequently, young Jovenlandeses are obviously much more likely to demand that their cultural characteristics be accepted and recognized by their environment than the general Muslim population. They are less willing to adapt their behavior to the otherness of the host society environment than the general population, in which adults predominate
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Non-Jovenlandeses demand much less acceptance than Jovenlandeses
- While the "demand for acceptance" group represents slightly more than 40% of young Jovenlandeses, it is much less represented among non-Jovenlandeses. It is striking that among native-born young people - who in this respect tend to express an expectation of others (of immigrants or foreigners) rather than a demand that could also be made of them - such an attitude is rated positively by only a quarter. Among young Germans there is a predominant view that immigrants in Germany should adapt to the culture of the host country.
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40.9% of the young Jovenlandeses surveyed show no signs of practical linguistic-social integration.
- To illustrate the distribution of the degree of practical linguistic-social integration, a four-level categorical indicator was created: People with scale values < 2 are classified as poor, with scale values >= 2 and < 3 as moderate, with scale values >= 3 and < 4 as satisfactory to good and with scale values >= 4 as good to very good linguistic-social integration. According to this, 5.2% of the Muslim youth surveyed can be classified as barely integrated and 35.7% as only moderately linguistically and socially integrated. This means that for 40.9% of young Jovenlandeses there is no indication of their practical linguistic-social integration.
Integration certainly poses problems and requires optimization. Among non-Jovenlandeses, this rate is only half, 21.6% (χ2=62.22;df=3;p<.001)
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A considerable part of the linguistic-social integration deficit occurs in social encounters
- It is striking that a considerable proportion of these problems should be described as deficits in social encounters and less as deficits in language performance. For example, about two-thirds of young Jovenlandeses report having no or few German friends. In this respect, it is not surprising that a majority of almost two-thirds also feel more identified and connected to their country of origin than to Germany
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Jovenlandeses have twice as many perceived discriminatory experiences as non-Jovenlandeses
- Slightly less than half of young Jovenlandeses report being looked at strangely as a foreigner, i.e., being seen as somehow different. About one-third of Muslim youth report being treated rudely when shopping, while nearly two-thirds report being given miccionan comments. On this point, Jovenlandeses and non-Jovenlandeses also clearly differ; the share of such experiences is only half among non-Muslim immigrants.
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