Youth Transitions among Descendants of Turkish Immigrants in Amsterdam and Strasbourg: A Generation in Transition

156 Pages·2019·2.41 MB·English

by  Elif Keskiner

IMISCOE Research Series
Elif Keskiner
Youth Transitions among
Descendants of Turkish
Immigrants in Amsterdam
and Strasbourg:
A Generation in Transition
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Elif Keskiner
Youth Transitions among
Descendants of Turkish
Immigrants in Amsterdam
and Strasbourg:
A Generation in Transition
Elif Keskiner
Department of Sociology
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
ISSN 2364-4087 ISSN 2364-4095 (electronic)
IMISCOE Research Series
ISBN 978-3-030-11789-4 ISBN 978-3-030-11790-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11790-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019934344
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To Deniz and Ada
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of a 5-year PhD research effort where I had the luxury to go
through an enduring experience of researching the lives of the descendants of
Turkish migrants in Strasbourg and Amsterdam. During my research and through-
out my experience of living in the Netherlands and France, I was always fascinated
by their creativity to encompass and embrace various worlds into their being. To my
understanding, by their mere existence, they continued to challenge all the boundar-
ies that are invented and enforced upon us. I realized my interest in them did not
stem from an identification issue as they were the natives and I was the migrant. I
could only try to put myself in the shoes of their parents, who left their lives and
families behind in Turkey with the hope that they will go back someday, a longing I
myself now often endure. However, the second generation represented the future
and their inspiring experience rendered questions of stay or return redundant. Hence
I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to my respondents for inspiring me,
opening their hearts and lives to me. I have learned so much from them, and I hope
I have managed to do justice to their generosity.
I would like to thank my PhD promoters Prof. Maurice Crul, Prof. Manuela du
Bois, and Prof. Jan Rath for their supervision and encouragement during my PhD
research. The Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies at the University of
Amsterdam provided an academically stimulating but also a congenial working
environment for me as a PhD. Among many others, there I’ve met Maria Bruquetas,
Manolis Pratsinakis, and Yannis Tzaninis, who have become great colleagues and
dear friends, and I am so grateful that we continue to support and stimulate each
other. TIES project introduced me to a great network of scholars where my special
thanks go to Jens Schneider, Philipp Schnell, and Levent Soysal for their indispens-
able contributions.
Writing my dissertation into a book was another craft of understanding and writ-
ing. I realized how much I have grown as a researcher and an academic since the
completion of my PhD. For that, I am indebted to Maurice Crul, who has been my
inspirational mentor. Not only during my doctoral study but also after I have had
the chance to work with him in various great projects such as Elites, RESL.eu, and
now the BAM Project, and I have learned from him tremendously. I am very proud
vii
viii Acknowledgments
to have shared this learning experience with colleagues and friends from these proj-
ects: Ismintha Waldring, Sara Rezai, Frans Lelie, Talitha Stam, and Ali Konyali.
In preparing this manuscript, I am grateful to Anna Triandafyllidou and Irina
Isaakyan from the editorial board of IMISCOE Springer for their ceaseless encour-
agement and assistance and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and
meticulous reviews. A special thanks go to Liz Cross for her editorial work. All the
responsibility for what is written herein lies with me alone.
I am indebted to my parents Asuman and Haydar Keskiner for their eternal sup-
port and belief in me. I am grateful to my in-laws, Delgen family, for their encour-
agement throughout the entire journey. My greatest thanks go to my love Levent,
without whom none of this would have materialized. He was present since the first
day of my PhD, and before, and his existence was irreplaceable and invaluable.
During the making of this book, a great transformation happened in our lives and
our daughters Deniz and Ada joined us. Ada endured many of the book revisions in
my belly and Deniz as a 2-year toddler, so they deserve a big applause. Since the
beginning of this journey, Zeynep Tufekcioglu, Zeynep Yanasmayan, Zeynep Kasli,
Isil Oztaysi, Nazli Senses, and Ozge Biner formed my greatest support group some-
times as dearest friends or colleagues and even some as mothers. Such women’s
solidarity has been crucial for my survival. Thank you all!
In writing this book, I have gone from being a researcher of second generation to
being a parent of second generation. Now my husband and I, as migrant parents, are
faced with various challenges that most of my respondents and their parents have
gone through. The inspiring pathways of second generation in this book continue to
encourage me and give endurance. I hope they also become an inspiration for my
daughters, Deniz and Ada, to whom I dedicate this book.
Contents
1 Youth Transitions of Descendants of Turkish Immigrants . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Youth Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 Conceptual Tools of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 Case Selection and Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4 Data Collection and Research Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2 Prolonged Transitions: Early Tracking and Its Implications for
Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2 Stratification in Education Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3 Transition Experience in Amsterdam and Strasbourg . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.4 Social Trajectories and Habitus; Experiences of Respondents
in a Given Track and How the Track Shapes Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.5 Conclusion: Pre-conditioned Youth Transitions and the Role
of Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3 Blurring of the Transition Point: Combining Work and Study . . . . . . 53
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.2 Structural Contexts for Student Employment
in the Netherlands and France from 2005 to 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3 Work-Study Combination in Amsterdam and Strasbourg . . . . . . . . 58
3.4 Conclusion: Implications of Work and Study Combinations . . . . . . 72
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4 Transition Decisions: Intersections of Social Class, Gender
and Ethnicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2 Institutional Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.3 Making the Transition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
ix
x Contents
4.4 Conclusion: Gendered Pathways and the Role
of Family Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 A Typology of Transition Trajectories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.2 Transition Typologies in Previous Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.3 A New Transition Typology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.4 Refining the Transition Typologies: Qualitative Profiles . . . . . . . . . 120
5.5 Conclusion: Stable versus Shifting Transitions Among
Descendants of Migrants from Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6 Conclusion: Developing Forms of Capital in Youth Transitions . . . . . . 139
6.1 Developing Forms of Capital Throughout
the Transition Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.2 The Intersections of Social Class, Gender and Ethnicity
in Youth Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.3 Comparative Research Design: Amsterdam and Strasbourg . . . . . . 144
6.4 Possible Future Avenues of Research and Policy Implications . . . . 145
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146