ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM Turkish youths and media preferences Researching the media behaviour of third generation Turkish-Dutch immigrants in Rotterdam Marc de Kool 306894 Thesis Supervisor: Ahmed K. Al-Rawi, Ph.D. Erasmus School of History, Culture, & Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam The Netherlands Abstract: This thesis explores the different possible angles of effects on the media preferences of the research audience. It focuses on the media preferences of third generation Turkish-Dutch young people living in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Accordingly, this research centers on themes such as parental mediation strategies, the rise of new media, social identification, social participation and the characteristics of transnational Turkish television versus Dutch television. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 young Turkish-Dutch people living in Rotterdam. The respondents were asked about their media preferences, their subsequent media use and motivations for said media use. The main research question of this thesis is: ‘What are the media preferences and -motivations of third generation Turkish-Dutch young people in Rotterdam?’. The sub-questions are: ‘What are the influences of social relations with other parties on the media preference of third generation Turkish-Dutch young people?’, ‘What is the influence of changes in Dutch society and politics on the media preference of third generation Turkish-Dutch young people?’, ‘What is the influence of religiosity on the media preferences and –consumption of third generation Turkish- Dutch young people in Rotterdam?’ and ‘What is the influence of membership to a student- or other organization of third generation Turkish-Dutch young people on feelings of belonging to Dutch society?’ The results of this study signal a shift from transnational Turkish television as main media source to online media as the dominant media technology in the lives of young third-generation Turkish-Dutch people living in Rotterdam. They remain strongly focused on Turkish cultural media products and attach great value to the Turkish part of their identity. The precarious nature of their identity, born in the Netherlands with a Turkish background can be explored in a more diverse pallet of interests online. This leads to segmentation and a stronger focus on Turkish cultural products on the one hand for some with an already strong predisposition towards the Turkish social identity group. On the other hand, this can also lead to a greater diversification of the cultural media products diet of these young people. Social online media are widely used, although their use is greatly dependent on the possible social control exerted by the Turkish social identity group. Membership of an organization which does not focus solely on Turkish issues can also have a diversifying effect on the media consumption of the research audience. Although the respondents considered themselves to be religious, the research did not find any notable influence of religiosity on media consumption behaviour. Keywords: Turkish migrants, third generation, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, media preferences, transnational media, new media, Social Identification Theory, participatory citizenship, religiosity, parental mediation. 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction.......................................................................................................................3 1.1 Young Turkish-Dutch people and Media Use .............................................................................3 1.2 Academic & Social relevance .....................................................................................................4 1.3 Turkish immigrants in Dutch society ..........................................................................................5 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................... 17 2.1 Diaspora theory....................................................................................................................... 17 2.2 Multiculturalism theory ........................................................................................................... 21 2.3 Participatory citizenship .......................................................................................................... 22 2.4 Social Identity Theory .............................................................................................................. 24 2.5 Media preference theory......................................................................................................... 27 2.6 Parental mediation: ................................................................................................................. 28 2.7 Influences on media preference .............................................................................................. 29 Chapter 3: Previous Research:........................................................................................................... 32 Chapter 4: Research Justification: ..................................................................................................... 36 4.1 Why Rotterdam? ..................................................................................................................... 36 4.2 Why young Turkish immigrants? ............................................................................................. 36 4.3 Why multiple media outlets?................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 5: Research argumentation: ................................................................................................. 39 Chapter 6: Methodology ................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 7: Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 44 7.1 Identity and Media Preference ................................................................................................ 46 7.2 Role of New Media .................................................................................................................. 51 7. 3 Dutch society and Media Use ................................................................................................. 54 7.4 Transnational Turkish and Dutch Television ............................................................................. 58 7.5 Parents and Media .................................................................................................................. 62 Chapter 8: Results ............................................................................................................................. 66 8.1 The results of diaspora and multiculturalism ........................................................................... 67 8.2 Social Identification Theory ..................................................................................................... 68 8.3 Participatory citizenship .......................................................................................................... 70 8.4 Other influences on media preferences ................................................................................... 71 Chapter 9: Conclusion and points for further research ...................................................................... 74 Reference list: ................................................................................................................................... 78 2 Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Young Turkish-Dutch people and Media Use The research project of this study is one with many angles and many opinions exist throughout society on the topic of transnational media use. What this research mainly concerns itself with is the way descendants from Turkish immigrants in Rotterdam use media to reaffirm cultural tastes and practices. During the course Media and Cultural Globalization earlier this year we discussed the article Thinking Across Spaces. Transnational Television from Turkey by Asu Aksoy & Kevin Robins (2000). This article entailed media use by Turkish immigrants in Germany but, because it was written more than a decade ago, it felt outdated. Twelve years later, with the arrival of digital television, video games and the rise of the internet, immigrants have more media options than ever. I wanted to research, using theory, interviews and qualitative analysis, what Turkish immigrants in Rotterdam in 2012 watch and listen to. Furthermore, one of the most fascinating questions we can seek to answer with the possible results of these researches is how Turkish immigrants use all these media. In the Netherlands, the past decade has brought about much public discussion of the multicultural society, what actually constitutes as a profound Dutch identity and the position of non-Western immigrants, living predominantly in cities like Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. Integration into Dutch society, criminality and lack of proficiency of the Dutch language are seen as big-city problems. Especially the media use of these non-Western immigrants is subject to much discussion, as entire streets in certain neighbourhoods have a satellite dish on every available free space and almost every Turkish or Moroccan bakery has the radio tuned to music from their country of origin. There are not many studies on immigrants’ media consumption