In the academic literature, there is much discussion on how and whether experiences and perceptions of discrimination lead to negative assimilation outcomes. However there is a lack of empirical evidence exploring this link. Claudia Diehl, Professor of Sociology at the University of Konstanz, Germany, examines the available data, and presents results from a recently collected mini-panel study of new immigrants to compare Turkish and Polish immigrants in Germany.
There are two paths by which discrimination may affect assimilation. In the first path, xenophobic attitudes in the receiving country lead to discriminatory behavior, which in turn leads to limited opportunities for migrants, maintaining ethnic boundaries and reducing assimilation into the host society. In the second path, xenophobic attitudes in the receiving country lead to discriminatory behavior, migrants’ perceptions of which limit their motivation to assimilate, again maintaining ethnic boundaries and reducing assimilation into the host society. While these two paths are by no means mutually exclusive, they must be considered as separate paths, since limited opportunities affect the ability to assimilate, even if migrants do not perceive the discrimination, and perceived discrimination may limit motivation to assimilate, even if all opportunities are equal.
While levels of discriminatory behavior are lower in Germany than in other contexts such as the United States, and according to the German Socioeconomic Panel many migrants state they have not personally experienced discrimination, many migrants do report perceived group discrimination. However these perceptions of discrimination are linked to life situation, personality, public opinion, and assimilation itself, so it is unclear what perceptions of discrimination actually measure. In addition, despite relatively low, and declining, xenophobic attitudes in Germany, it is not clear how these attitudes translate into discriminatory behavior. Despite the relatively lower levels of discrimination, it is unclear how this discrimination is perceived by migrants, as well as how these perceptions affect assimilation outcomes. Several studies have suggested that there is no link between reduced availability of opportunity and assimilation outcomes in education and the labor market – ethnic penalties can be explained by socioeconomic status rather than ethnicity itself with ethnic residuals remaining only for the upper limits of discrimination, however even these residuals could be explained by limited cultural and social resources. Perceived discrimination, as well, has been found to have no link to assimilation outcomes such as remigration intentions, religiosity, and the labor market. However it is difficult to establish causation because perceptions of discrimination and outcomes may fall outside of a given observation period, and perceived discrimination against the self does not include perceived group discrimination, which may also play a role in assimilation outcomes.
Diehl’s current work, from the SCIP project at the Norface Research Programme on Migration, seeks to correct for some of these uncertainties by using mini-panel data from newly arrived immigrants, collecting information on identification with the receiving country, experiences and perceptions of discrimination, and assimilation outcomes. Her results show that, upon migrating to Germany, Turks and Poles start off with similar levels of identification that rise over the first year or so, however Turks’ level of identification flattens and then declines, while Poles’ level of identification continues to rise over time. Moreover, Poles show increasing levels of social assimilation, low levels of perceived discrimination and low levels of perceived value incompatibility over time, while Turks show just the opposite – stagnating levels of social assimilation, increasing perceptions of discrimination, and high levels of value incompatibility. Both groups, perhaps not surprisingly, show increased language skills over time. Overall, social assimilation enhances identification with Germany, however perceived discrimination hinders this process for Turks. In short, Turks and Poles enter Germany with similar levels of identification, however higher levels of perceived discrimination among Turks leads to lower levels of identification with Germany over time compared to Poles.
Establishing a link between perceived discrimination and assimilation among new migrants opens up the question of how this link changes across generations. Will these differences between groups persist into the second or third generation in Germany? Do perceptions of discrimination affect the second generation in the same way as the first? Separately, given the current Syrian refugee crisis, and Germany as an important receiving country for refugees, it would be telling to extend this research to refugees, and Syrians in particular. How does the highly politicized and mixed context of reception affect Syrians’ assimilation in both the short and long term? Do Syrians tend not to have perceived discrimination personally, but perceive discrimination against the group, as many migrants report in the German Socioeconomic Panel? And, does the public discussion of Syrian migrants change the context of reception for Turks, Poles, and migrants from other countries, and potentially change perceptions of discrimination among all migrant groups? Diehl’s work is important in understanding the timely topic of processes of assimilation, as the public and political discourse on immigration becomes increasingly prominent in Western Europe and the United States.
-Eric Ketcham
