Muslims´ religious orientations and generational change

The objective of this empirical study is to explore the integrational processes developing among first- and second- generation Muslim migrants in Austria with a focus on religious orientations. Religious self-definitions - within the spectrum of secular and orthodox, as well as fundamental and extremist orientations - are investigated in terms of individual life situations. A particular focus is on confrontations emerging from religiously motivated valuational concepts. From diverse perspectives, this approach serves to examine the frequently asked question as to the significance of Islam for the process of integration. What effects do diverse patterns of religious orientation (religious practice and religion-related attitudes) have in terms of social and normative integration? What milieus can be identified in Austria as to religious understanding, ethnic identification, values and life styles? By comparing two generations within families, the study not only analyzes socio-structural influences on the integrational process, but also examines the family`s influence (e.g. role structures) on the transmission of values and life patterns. Our research combines qualitative and quantitative methods. In our quantitative survey, families - i.e. 400 generation pairs (totalling 800 individuals) - form the basis for a representative random sampling. Born in Austria, or having fully gone through school education in this country, the young generation is aged 16 to 26 years. The intergenerational comparison emphasizes how ethnic-religious orientations and life styles, in reciprocal action, change with individual members` living conditions. The relevance of religious orientations within the process of integration is explored in terms of key integrational dimensions: - Social status and competencies: socio-economic positioning, social (intrafamilial) mobility, communicative competence and linguistic behavior - Interaction with the majority society: social opening or closure (social networks, friendships, membership affiliations, etc) - Norms in terms of gender roles and the principles of constitutional legality (basic democratic rules, tolerance as regards pluralism).

The issue of immigration is increasingly discussed under the aspect of cultural conflict; in particular, Muslim migrants have become the center of focus. The objective was to explore the effects of different patterns of religious self-understanding and attachment within the second-generation acculturation process (e.g. educational careers, social networks, gender roles, democratic and liberal value systems).The research design was based on a generational approach. Dyad interviews were carried out in the families (400 parent-child dyads) in order to explore the effect of familial transmission processes as related to other factors of acculturation in the second generation. 73% originated in Turkey and 27% in former Yugoslavia (24% in Bosnia and 3% in Kosovo). Based on an analysis of central religious dimensions (beliefs, practices, behavioral norms) the results showed that change becomes manifest in the erosion of strictly orthodox imperatives, while transmission and continuity increasingly unfold in the symbolic dimension of religion. While the binding force of religious norms has become clearly weaker in areas of individual liberties gender relationships, sexuality other beliefs have remained rather stable. Intergenerational change indeed proved to be distinctive: Polarization among the young became evident in generational change, between the strongly increasing modern patterns of life and attitudes and the more strongly traditional patterns. To some extent change is more distinctive among women. Unlike studies in other European countries, the investigation revealed no tendency of a significant increasing Muslim identification among the second generation as compared to their parents. However, a strong feeling of marginalization from Austrian society was ascertained, thus negatively impacting the feeling of affiliation with society in this country. The ideological components of a radical Islamic attitude (such as the call for introducing severe physical punishment into Austrian law; the justification of violence in suicide assassinations against enemies of Islam) were identified only among a minority of this sample. While the political background became rather clear as exemplified by the Mideast conflict, no marked and strictly religious involvement in terms of an intensive religious practice and strictly orthodox religious understanding was observed; the tendency toward radicalism became most clearly manifest in authoritarian, antidemocratic attitudes. Low educational status and life in metropolitan environments were demonstrated to be the only effects to explain radical attitudes, thus indicating problems of social milieus.