Einführung -- Theoretische Ansätze zu Intergruppenkonflikten -- Islam-/Muslim*innenfeindlichkeit als Gegenstand empirischer Sozialforschung -- Daten und Methode: das Forschungsdesign -- Differenzierung nach Adressat*innen? Dimensionen und Prädiktoren von Islam- und Muslim*innenfeindlichkeit -- Good Muslims, bad Islam? Das Ausmaß feindlicher Einstellungen im Vergleich -- Assoziationen mit Islam und Muslim*innen: frequenz- und valenzanalytische Annäherungen -- Fazit und Ausblick.
Muslimische Mädchen*arbeit, also eine pädagogische Arbeit, die sich an muslimische Mädchen* richtet und Platz sowohl für gesellschaftsorientierte als auch für religionsorientierte Themen bietet, ist immer auch feministische Arbeit, denn es geht immer (auch) um gesellschaftliche Teilhabe (El Abbadi/Erkan 2023). Eine feministische Perspektive ermöglicht ein kritisches Hinterfragen von Machtverhältnissen und die Analyse sozialer Ungleichheiten entlang unterschiedlicher Heterogenitätsmarker. Muslimische Mädchen*, die häufig, aber – und das ist zentral – nicht immer auch eine Migrationsgeschichte besitzen, stellen eine mehrfach benachteiligte Zielgruppe Sozialer Arbeit dar. Dieser Beitrag soll für drei wichtige Aspekte in der Arbeit mit dieser spezifischen Klient*innengruppe sensibilisieren, die sich auf den Umgang mit den Kategorien Religion, Geschlecht und Migrationsgeschichte beziehen: Erstens das Potential von Kreuzkategorisierungen und pluralen Identitäten für die Reduzierung von Vorurteilen, zweitens die Relevanz der Reflexion kategorialer Verwechselungen, insbesondere von Muslim*innen und Migrant*innen, und drittens intersektionale Perspektiven auf Diskriminierungserfahrungen der Adressatinnen* im Kontext muslimischer Mädchen*arbeit. Schließlich wird auf spezifische, mitunter von intersektionaler Diskriminierung strukturierte Lebensrealitäten muslimischer Mädchen* eingegangen, die nicht unbedingt identisch sein müssen mit jenen von nicht-muslimischen Mädchen* oder muslimischen Jungen*.
AbstractThe experience of loneliness is common among international students who study in a foreign country, away from their home. Loneliness refers to the difference between the actual and desired social relationships highlighting not only the quantity but also the quality of relationships. We argue for a perspective on loneliness that emphasizes its social context rather than relying mainly on individualistic or psychological interpretations prevalent thus far. In this article, we explore network predictors of loneliness among Chinese international students in Germany. Through our analysis of a unique data set, we show that when compared to the local students, international students tend to feel lonelier. Surprisingly, when we discover that when international students have the same network size, those with more emotionally supportive ties tend to experience more loneliness compared to those with fewer emotionally supportive ties. Not surprisingly, having a romantic partner is associated with lower levels of loneliness, especially when they also live in the country of education. Additionally, we find that international Chinese students who struggle to form cross‐national friendships report higher levels of loneliness. By delving into these findings, our research offers a sociological account of loneliness among international Chinese and local students in Germany.
Abstract Background Anti-Muslim and anti-Islam attitudes are widespread in contemporary western societies. A grassroots movement of mosques tries to reduce prejudice by organizing guided mosque tours for non-Muslims. While this is an opportunity for intergroup contact in a social psychological sense, contact occurs under sometimes difficult conditions. As yet, its effects have not been investigated empirically.
Objective We examine (a) whether visits have an immediate and medium-term effect on prejudice toward Islam and (b) how they change the visitors' subjective images of Muslims.
Methods (a) We survey N = 324 secondary school students in a three-wave panel study in 6 guided mosque tours in different parts of Germany, including a control sample. The tour programme was in line with common practice in the mosques. Standardized measurements were taken immediately before and after the tour and again several months later. (b) We asked about subjective images of Muslims and had subjects report their spontaneous associations with the term Muslim.
Results (a) Most, but not all, mosque visits significantly alleviate anti-Islam prejudice in the short term. The effects fall off after several months. (b) After the visit, the image of Muslims possessed more concrete religious content, while negative and menacing associations, such as oppression of women, threat, or so-called Islamic State have decreased.
Conclusions Outgroup contact in a mosque works as predicted by the intergroup contact research, even under less than optimal conditions. However, there is potential for improvement of the setup of tours in the interest of a more sustainable impact.
For students, study abroad has its advantages but might also have unwanted adverse effects, such as social isolation and loneliness. We analyze the role of emotional support in understanding loneliness among Chinese international students in Germany, in comparison to local students, from a gender perspective. Based on a representative sample, our findings suggest that Chinese international students feel lonelier than local ones. Female Chinese international students are less lonely compared to male ones, whereas the opposite is true for local students. Contrary to our expectations, a higher number of emotionally supportive ties is associated with higher levels of loneliness for all the students. Our further analysis of the correlation between emotional support and loneliness separately for the four subgroups indicates that while for female local students having more emotionally supportive ties is associated with lower levels of loneliness, for female Chinese international students we find the opposite trend. For all male students, we find no significant effect of emotional support on loneliness. We recommend conducting a longitudinal study for examining the causality of the relationship between networks and loneliness in the future. Results have important implications for universities and higher education research in understanding the role of networks on loneliness.
The aim of this paper is to discuss in a comparative perspective the role of race and religion as heterogeneities in Germany and the U.S. Both categories are crucial for the legitimation of symbolic and social boundaries and thus for the (re-)production of social inequalities. We argue that the culturalization of these heterogeneities - the categorization of group differences along cultural markers and thus the ascription of attitudes and behavior to these categories - becomes particularly visible in a cross-national perspective. To develop this argument, we draw on important comparative work that emphasizes the boundary-making processes along the categorization of religion and race. We present and discuss our findings from a cross-national analysis of several heterogeneities, in particular religion and race as salient heterogeneities in Germany and the U.S., respectively. Our approach and findings open up the discussion of race and religion as functional equivalents in processes of culturalization and inequality production in an empirical cross-national comparison. We argue that comparative studies in sociology contribute to a deeper understanding of the cultural determinants of migrants' social inequalities.
