Suchergebnisse

While considerable research has shown that coethnic communities exercise pressure on their members to conform to certain normative patterns, there is little research that explains variability within coethnic groups regarding ethnic conformity pressure. Drawing on fieldwork and semistructured interviews with children and grandchildren of Turkish immigrants living in Ghent and five mining towns in Belgium, we explain differences in ethnic conformity pressure through a comparative examination of how macrostructural characteristics of cities shape community–level ethnic conformity pressure. We demonstrate that a city's migration history and social geography are related to the degree of social closure and normative consensus within an ethnic community, and that its ethnic heterogeneity and interethnic relations impact how much people depend on their coethnic community for social support. These in turn shape the internal sanctioning capacity of the community and its power to enforce normative patterns, especially of gender roles. The study shows that locality matters in the integration, assimilation, and acculturation of migrants, even disadvantaged ones who share the same national background.

This article reports a decline in transnational marriages among Turkish Belgians between 2001 and 2008 and explains the changing trends through a qualitative study of Turkish Belgians' current partner preferences and union formation practices. Young people prefer a local marriage because it enables upward social mobility, and the possibility of premarital relationships and lower parental involvement seem to further add to the declining popularity of transnational marriages. Despite these changes, however, a considerable percentage of people continues to marry a partner from the country of origin. By identifying four 'types' of transnational marriages we highlight the changes and diversification with regards to transnational marriages.