Mens & Maatschappij - Volume 85, Issue 1, 2010

Orthodoxy and integration among Turkish Dutch Muslims .

What is the relationship between religious orthodoxy and psychological, social and political integration of Turkish Dutch Muslims? Orthodox interpretations emphasize that a ‘pure’ Islam is about essential and inerrant truths that provide strict guidelines for everyday life. In the present sample, half of respondents reported (very) strong orthodox beliefs. Orthodoxy was higher among younger compared to older respondents and among those who perceived relatively high levels of rejection of Muslims in the Netherlands. Orthodoxy was negatively associated with national identification but not with national disidentification or with social integration. Orthodoxy was strongly and positively associated with the endorsement of Muslim rights and the attitude towards democratic political organization of Muslims in the Netherlands. Orthodoxy was not related to political (in)tolerance. Together, the results indicate that orthodox beliefs do not necessarily hamper the integration of Turkish Dutch Muslims.

Relating ‘how’ and ‘where’ .

The impact of location on modus operandi for street robbery .

Do different types of street robberies occur at different types of places? Environmental criminology has not yet incorporated how spatial characteristics affect a crime’s modus operandi. The current study improves upon that situation by (a) empirically deriving a typology for street robbery through cluster analysis, based on the modus operandi, and (b) relating the number of street robberies per subtype to the local conditions where they occurred. Three distinct robbery types were identified – differing with respect to victim injury, weapon use, number of robbers and victims, and loot. Different types of street robberies have different spatial causes, to a certain extent.

Labour market mobility of non-natives .

An analysis of the change in occupational prestige and wages of non-native and native men and women in the first years of their labour market career .

In this contribution we focus on the transition between the first job and the ensuing labour market position of people from a migrant descent in Flanders (Belgium). Previous research showed that second generation migrants perform more poorly than natives when entering the labour market. We compare how native and non-native youngsters make the transition from their first to later jobs at the start of their career. Both native and migrant young adults experience social mobility. On average, both groups acquire higher occupational prestige and higher wages as their career develops. While native and non-native men perform equally well in terms of the wage mobility, non-native women do worse. With regard to occupational prestige, the gap between native and migrant youth narrows over the course of their careers. In general however, the future career is largely determined by the characteristics of the first job. This first job offers less prestige and smaller wages for non-natives compared to that of natives.

Why do adult children support their parents and how can we explain differences among children in this respect? Similarly, why do people support their adult children and why are some parents more supportive than others? In this paper, an overview is given of three explanations of intergenerational support: a theory about exchange, a theory about altruism, and a theory about social norms. Because these theories have different underlying models of behavior, they have been competing with each other in past research. I discuss the mechanisms and problems behind these general theories and how they have been applied to the theme of intergenerational support. Next, I give an overview of different fields of research in which these theories (or parts of them) have been tested. The focus is on three different research traditions which have had different ways of testing the theories: demographic and sociological research which has emphasized the life course concept, economic research which has emphasized financial transfers, and psychological research which has focused on wellbeing. Assorted findings from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, a large-scale panel study of family relations in the Netherlands, serve as empirical illustrations.