Cultural Integration of Turkish Immigrant Workers’ Children into the Host Society An Intergenerational Comparison in the Context of France and Germany

Authors : Kemal İNAL

Pages : 74-94

Doi:10.31123/akil.441930

View : 19 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2014-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This paper aims to analyze the Turkish migration to Germany and France that resulted in a cultural integration through the emergence of second and third generation of children born in host society. To achieve this goal, a literature review of studies on the subject and the data produced in recent years were used. The paper was limited with the cases of Germany and France where most of Turkish immigrants still live and many recent studies and data on the subject were produced. The thesis of the study is that the migration of workers to two countries is a process of cultural insertion and social participation in modern society, in spite of the fact that it is an economic project. The immigrant taking a culturally distant position to the host society because of his/her different ethnic identity is firstly perceived as a foreigner, and submits in time to the integrative mechanisms of the modern system. At any rate, apart from the effort of defending his/her own original identity; the immigrant searches ways of integration to host society in the various levels and areas by forming many strategies and by using some means to achieve this aim. The settlement in the host society signifies the decision and desire of the migrant to take roots in the host society, and this is mainly to be realized through the child. The child who was born in the destination area causes the project of economic migration to be extended towards socio-cultural areas like education, since the future of immigrant’s family is now entirely defined through the future of child with respect to the modern conditions. The expected success for their children in the educational and professional areas forces parents to leave from the traditional values and to internalize the modern ways of life. The modern values and attitudes of the second generational Turkish families towards their children in Germany and France indicate that the immigration is, first of all, a modernizing process. The study concludes that, comparing with traditional values, the Turkish parents describe their children in terms of the modern attitudes and conducts, pointing out the adaptation ability of immigrant’s identity to the modern conditions.
Keywords : Emigration, Turkish Immigrant, Cultural Integration, Children of Turkish Immigrants