Social Reproduction of Religiosity in the Immigrant Context: The Role of Family Transmission and Family Formation — Evidence from France

This paper compares two aspects of the social reproduction of religion: parent-to-child transmission, and religious homogamy. Analysis of a survey of immigrants in France shows that for parent-to-child transmission, immigrant status/generation is not the central variable — rather, variation is across religions with Muslim families showing high continuity. Immigrant status/generation does directly matter for partner choice. In Christian and Muslim families alike, religious in-partnering significantly declines in the second generation. In turn, the offspring of religiously non-homogamous families is less religious. For Muslim immigrants this points to the possibility of a non-trivial decline in religiosity in the third generation.

Blocked acculturation: cultural heterodoxy among Europe's immigrants

Which immigrant groups differ most from the cultural values held by mainstream society and why? The authors explore this question using data from the European Social Survey on the values held by almost 100,000 individuals associated with 305 immigrant groups and the native majorities of 23 countries. They test whether distant linguistic or religious origins (including in Islam), value differences that immigrants "import" from their home countries, the maintenance of transnational ties and thus diasporic cultures, or legal and social disadvantage in the country of settlement shape acculturation processes. They find that only legally or socially disadvantaged groups differ from mainstream values in significant ways. For first generation immigrants, this is because the values of their countries of origin diverge more from those of natives. Among children of disadvantaged immigrants, however, value heterodoxy emerges because acculturation processes are blocked and the values of the parent generation partially maintained. From the second generation onward, therefore, cultural values are endogenous to the formation and dissolution of social boundaries, rather than shaping these as an exogenous force.

Reconceptualizing Context: A Multilevel Model of the Context of Reception and Second‐Generation Educational Attainment

This paper seeks to return scholarly attention to a core intellectual divide between segmented and conventional (or neo‐)assimilation approaches, doing so through a theoretical and empirical reconsideration of contextual effects on second‐generation outcomes. We evaluate multiple approaches to measuring receiving country contextual effects and measuring their impact on the educational attainment of the children of immigrants. We demonstrate that our proposed measures better predict second‐generation educational attainment than prevailing approaches, enabling a multilevel modeling strategy that accounts for the structure of immigrant families nested within different receiving contexts.

Timing of union formation and partner choice in immigrant societies: The United States and Germany

As Gordon noted in his 1964 treatise on assimilation, marriage across ethnic boundaries and in particular, marriage into the mainstream is a key indicator as well as a mechanism of immigrant assimilation. Since then research has investigated numerous micro- and macro level correlates of exogamy. In this paper we focus on a topic that has received less attention thus far - how the timing of marriage is associated with partner choice. We compare the United States and Germany as two countries with significant immigrant and second-generation populations but where mainstream patterns of union formation differ. In both contexts we show that unions that cross ethnic boundaries happen later in life than those that stay within. Comparing across countries we argue that in Germany differences in the timing of union formation between the second generation and the mainstream, may pose additional barriers to intermarriage that do not exist in the United States.

Mode of Difference and Resource for Resilience: How Religion Shapes Experiences of Discrimination of the Second Generation in France

There are two sides to cultural practices such as religion: on the one hand, they connect families across generations and space and can embed resources. On the other, as is the case with Muslim immigrants in Europe, they can become markers of difference and create social distance. Drawing on data on the schooling experiences of children of immigrants in France and on information concerning their religious and linguistic family context when growing up, this article maps these two aspects. Although those growing up in Muslim families are significantly more likely to report discrimination than those from Christian or nonreligious families, neither the degree of religiosity nor the presence of parental home-country language was associated with the probability of reporting discrimination. However, for those growing up in Muslim families, a religious family environment seems to protect against negative reactions such as losing interest in academic matters, whereas no such effects are found in Christian families or for home-country language. These findings show that religion is not only a consequential symbolic barrier that Muslims encounter in Europe but also, for those who are religious, a resource to cope with experiences of exclusion — a constellation that may prove consequential for dynamics of integration.

Talking About Religion? Differences in Religious Socialization Among Recently Arrived Refugees Between Quebec and Other Provinces in Canada

How does context shapes religious practices and religious expression of immigrants? Existing work has focussed on changes over the long term and across generations. We argue that context can shape religious practice shortly after arrival. Using a nationally representative survey of Syrian refugees with children who arrived between late 2015 and 2018, we examine how often parents talk to their children about religion, a central mechanism in religious socialization. We compare Quebec, which has become increasingly restrictive about public religious expression to other Canadian provinces, which are often upheld as exemplars of multicultural accommodation. Syrian refugees in Quebec, especially mothers, report significantly less frequent religious discussions with their children than those in other provinces, regardless of whether they are Christian or Muslim. This pattern is not explained by pre-migration religiosity or settlement selection, suggesting that Quebec's distinct socio-political environment shapes religious expression soon after arrival.