Chapter 2 Intergenerational Transmission of Religion in Migrant Families

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Modes of Difference and Connection: Language, Education and Religion in Migrant Families A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Thomas Georg Soehl 2014 © Copyright by Thomas Georg Soehl 2014 ii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Modes of Difference and Connection: Language, Education and Religion in Migrant Families by Thomas Georg Soehl Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Roger Waldinger, Chair This dissertation examines how home country language and religion are transmitted in migrant families. In a set of four essays I examine how these transmission processes are tied to processes of assimilation/acculturation, the maintenance of home-country ties and perceptions of discrimination of the children of immigrants in schools. The starting point of my analysis is that both language and religion, in important and similar ways, function as modes of connection in migrant families with family members and friends who remain in the place of origin. At the same time vis-á-vis in the destination country, language and religion are two key cultural practices that can categorically differentiate immigrants and their children from the national majority populations. Drawing on a recently collected nationally representative survey of immigrants and the children of immigrants in France, the Trajectories and Origins (TeO) project, the first two chapters of this dissertation focus on the processes of intergenerational transmission of language and religion. The third chapter, uses data about the schooling experiences of the second-generation in the TeO to develop ii and test a set of hypotheses about the incentive structures that migrant parents face when deciding to transmit different cultural practices to their destination-country-born children. A final essay examines how religion and language factor in the continuity of social attitudes in immigrants and their children by analyzing attitudes of immigrant and second-generation respondents from 83 countries around the world living in 23 European countries. iii The dissertation of Thomas Georg Soehl is approved. Li Cai Robert Mare Andreas Wimmer Roger Waldinger, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2014 iv Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to Lena Ping Soehl who would have turned three years old just as I write these words. v Table of Contents Introduction: Modes of Difference and Connection: Religion, Education, and Language in Immigrant Families 1 References 13 Chapter 1: Intergenerational transmission of home-country language in migrant families 16 References 43 Chapter 2: Intergenerational transmission of religion in migrant families 46 References 81 Chapter 3: Language, religion and the schooling experiences of the children of immigrants 85 References 122 Chapter 4: Change and Continuity in Immigrants' Attitudes towards Homosexuality 126 References 174 Chapter 5: Memorandum outlining the contribution of this dissertation to education research, policy and practice 182 References 189 vi List of Tables and Figures Tables Table 1.1: Summary statistics for language use 30 Table 1.2: Exposure to language during childhood and language practices when adult 32 Table 1.3: Ordered logistic regression models for language ability and language use in different spheres of life. 37 Table 1.4: Separate logistic regression models for different degrees of langage ability and Brant test for equality of coefficients. 38 Table A1.1 Summary statistics for independent variables 42 Table 2.1: Summary statistics for religious denomination 68 Table 2.2: Religiosity: How important is religion 69 Table 2.3: Religious configurations of households 70 Table 2.4: Religious practice and correlation with religiosity 72 Table 2.5: Ordered logistic regression models of religiosity in the second generation 75 Table 3.1 Logistic regression predicting reports of discrimination by teachers 110 Table 3.2 Ordered logistic regression predicting number of negative reactions to experiences of discrimination 112 Table A3.1 Descriptive statistics of sample 119 Table A3.2 Sub-sample analysis: Logistic regression predicting reports of discrimination by teachers 120 Table A3.3 Sub-sample analysis: Ordered logistic regression predicting number of negative reactions to experiences of discrimination 121 Table 4.1: Descriptive statistics of immigrant sample in the European Social Survey waves 1 to 5. 146 Table 4.2: Summary statistics of measures for tolerance for homosexuality in 83 countries of origin and 23 countries of destination. 150 Table 4.3: Cross-Classified hierarchical regression model of respondents' attitudes towards homosexuality estimated using Gibbs sampling. 158 vii Table 4.4 : Cross-Classified hierarchical regression model of respondents' attitudes towards homosexuality estimated using Gibbs sampling. 161 Table A4.1: Counts of cases by origin and destination 173 Table 5.1 Comparing slope estimates with and without probabilistic symmetry restriction 187 Figures Figure 1.1: Generational linkages in TeO Data 22 Figure 2.1: Effect of parental religiosity on religiosity in the second-generation 76 Figure 3.1: Schematic summary of cost-benefit in a case where cultural practice is the basis of a social categorization or distance but at the same time provides socio-psychological benefits. 91 Figure 3.2: Summary of relationships examined in the empirical analysis 98 Figure 4.1: Distributions of responses to the question “is homosexuality justifiable” in select countries. 128 Figure 4.2: Estimates of the effect of country of origin and host country attitude mean by time of residence in the host country. 157 Figure 4.3: Influence of origin- and destination country attitudes over time at different levels of religiosity, with variation in language use and for those economically marginal. 160 Figure 4.4: Predicted response scores based on model 4 for select combinations of key variables. 164 Figure A4.1: Comparison of t/z-statistics from ordered logistic model and linear model 172 viii Acknowledgements This dissertation is a milestone in a long and at times winding education career. Some people and places although they were not involved in the dissertation project were critical in getting me to the starting line. Among those I want to thank John Mollenkopf at the Center for Urban Research whose exchange program first brought me to the US where I had my first exposure to the world of social science research at the CUNY Graduate Center. But it was the City of New York in its endless fascinating complexity and diversity that really sparked my interest in social science and – no surprise – in the sociology of international migration. In pursuing this interest I was lucky to have an inspiring group of mentors. First I want to thank Roger Waldinger who taught me a lot about the craft of research. He is a model of wide ranging intellect, curiosity, and persistence and the main reason why my graduate studies were more enlightening than I had dared to hope. I cannot repay the personal and intellectual debt I owe him, but can only do my best to pay it forward to the next generation. I was also privileged to work with Andreas Wimmer who, with his trademark rigor and precision, helped me think through some critical puzzles in my research. The phenomenological comfort of conversing in German made our meetings all the more enjoyable. Towards the end of this project Rob Mare contributed the excellent comments and insights that he is known for. Li Cai introduced me to new methods of advanced quantitative analysis. Even though they were not part of my dissertation committee, several scholars provided important feedback throughout the process. Rogers Brubaker gave sharp and insightful comments on several of the chapters. And it was his terrific class on the ix comparative study on nationalism that sparked my interest in the topic of language and religion as minority cultural practices. Mirna Safi at Sciences Po gave my third chapter a close read and provided invaluable feedback as well as an expert’s view on the French research landscape. Similarly Matthias Koenig from the University of Goettingen generously shared helpful hints on how to improve the second chapter. Too many of their suggestions remain unaddressed. In the early stages of this project Nancy Foner, Christoph Bertossi and the participants in the Social Science Research Council’s Dissertation Proposal Development Workshops created a uniquely stimulating environment to develop this project. Back at UCLA I profited from comments in a number of excellent research groups: the International Migration speaker series, the Research Colloquium at the School of Education as well as the “237” seminar in the sociology department. Writing a dissertation can be a lonely endeavor at times. The solitude might have been crushing without colleagues in the department who over coffee or in bars over drinks pondered and conversed about sociological and non-sociological topics alike. The list of names is too long to be exhaustive here, but I want to mention a few: Antonio Guzman, Kyle Arnone, Joe Skala, Peter Catron, Renee Luthra, Jenjira Jahirun, William Rosales, and Wesley Hiers. My parents Charlotte and Helmut Söhl were supportive in what was a long educational journey that took me literally halfway around the world. I am deeply thankful for their support and understanding. My siblings Bernhard, Johannes and Eva are simply the best. Although I had to mostly watch from afar, it was inspiring to see them grow up and build their lives. I am a proud to be their older brother. x Finally I want to thank Yvonne, my love and my partner over all these years. Without her none of this would have happened nor would it matter. Towards the end of this project we were joined by our two lovely daughters: Emilia, the source of sheer endless joy and amazement, and Luisa Verena who arrived in this world just as I put the finishing touches on this project.

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