Week 15
A Quick Case Study and
Some Final Musings

SOCI 231

Sakeef M. Karim
Amherst College


ASSIMILATION, IMMIGRATION AND CULTURAL CHANGE

The Final Lecture

Reminders

Final Paper


Final Papers

Your final papers are due by 8:00 PM on Wednesday, December 18th.

Reminders

Final Paper

Guidelines for the term paper can be found here.

Reminders

Final Paper

You’ll have time to work on your paper in
the second half of class.

Reminders

Dr. Miloš Broćić will join SOCI 229 this afternoon.

Reminders

  Frost 211

  Today — 2:00 PM to 3:20 PM

Reminders

The paper at the heart of his talk examines college and the culture war (Broćić and Miles 2021).

A Quick Case Study

European Muslims

Let’s briefly examine the “debate” surrounding the assimilatory trajectories of Muslims in Europe. To do so, we’ll unpack a paper I recently published in Social Forces.

Transmission of Cultural Identity

The paper can be accessed below—

My Argument

  • Studies exploring the integration of European immigrants tend to highlight cultural differences between Muslim children and their immigrant-origin classmates (Bisin et al. 2008; Drouhot 2021).

  • What explains this cultural distance? Drouhot and Nee (2019):

    • Discrimination from native majorities.
    • Cultural transfers from parents to children.

  • The cultural retention thesis is only valid if we reduce personal culture (Kiley and Vaisey 2020; Lersch 2023; Lizardo 2017) to single issue domains or attitudinal dimensions.

  • If we study multiple dimensions of cultural meaning at the same time, we may observe more cultural disjunctures or discontinuities within European Muslim households.

    • The transmission advantage among Muslim parents in Europe may disappear entirely.

Empirical Targets: Latent Cultural Identities

Empirical Targets: Latent Cultural Identities

Empirical Targets: Latent Cultural Identities

Empirical Targets: Latent Cultural Identities

Empirical Targets: Latent Cultural Identities

Empirical Targets: Cultural Transmission

Data Source: CILS4EU

Cultural Identity Profiles in the Data

Figure 3 from Karim (2024).

Note: Scroll to access the entire graphic—or click the image.

Cultural Transmission Patterns

Figure 6 from Karim (2024).

Cultural Transmission Patterns

Among Christians

Adaptation of Figure 7 from Karim (2024).

Cultural Transmission Patterns

Among Muslims

Adaptation of Figure 7 from Karim (2024).

Cultural Transmission Patterns

Figure 8 from Karim (2024).

Conclusions?

A Question How can we use segmented assimilation theory to demystify these patterns?

A Final Group Discussion

Remember This Plot?

Remember This Plot?

Use the readings assigned for Week 15—or the knowledge you’ve picked up throughout the course—to:

  1. Explain what the plot is trying to convey.

  2. Discuss whether you agree or disagree with the conceptual model undergirding the visualization.

Course Evaluations

Due December 15th

Please submit your course evaluations before this Sunday.

The End

References

Note: Scroll to access the entire bibliography

Bisin, Alberto, Thierry Verdier, Eleonora Patacchini, and Yves Zenou. 2008. “Are Muslim Immigrants Different in Terms of Cultural Integration?” Journal of the European Economic Association 6 (2/3): 445–56. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40282654.
Broćić, Miloš, and Andrew Miles. 2021. “College and the ‘Culture War’: Assessing Higher Education’s Influence on Moral Attitudes.” American Sociological Review 86 (5): 856–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224211041094.
Drouhot, Lucas G. 2021. “Cracks in the Melting Pot? Religiosity and Assimilation Among the Diverse Muslim Population in France.” American Journal of Sociology 126 (4): 795–851. https://doi.org/10.1086/712804.
Drouhot, Lucas G., and Victor Nee. 2019. “Assimilation and the Second Generation in Europe and America: Blending and Segregating Social Dynamics Between Immigrants and Natives.” Annual Review of Sociology 45 (Volume 45, 2019): 177–99. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041335.
Karim, Sakeef M. 2024. “Islam and the Transmission of Cultural Identity in Four European Countries.” Social Forces, May, soae076. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soae076.
Kiley, Kevin, and Stephen Vaisey. 2020. “Measuring Stability and Change in Personal Culture Using Panel Data.” American Sociological Review 85 (3): 477–506. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122420921538.
Lersch, Philipp M. 2023. “Change in Personal Culture over the Life Course.” American Sociological Review 88 (2): 220–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224231156456.
Lizardo, Omar. 2017. “Improving Cultural Analysis: Considering Personal Culture in Its Declarative and Nondeclarative Modes.” American Sociological Review 82 (1): 88–115. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122416675175.