Assimilation, Acculturation, and Juvenile Delinquency : Second Generation Turkish Youth in Berlin, Germany

ISBN-13: 9783659609589 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 372 str.

Alexis A. Aronowitz

Opis

This study measures the relationship between assimilation, acculturation and delinquent behavior among a population of 160 male Turkish adolescents, age 14 to 21, in Berlin, Germany. A self-report survey measuring delinquency, identity, and behavioral, structural and cultural integration in terms of associations, language usage, self-perception, and desire to assimilate and acculturate, was administered through a process of individual interviews. Research subjects were recruited from sports clubs, youth clubs, school programs, prison, probation and parole, and a pretrial detention center from various districts throughout the former West Berlin between 1984 and 1987. The data was analyzed in light of a theory of anomie to determine if delinquent behavior, one adaptation to an anomic condition, is caused by a conflict between the real and ideal self-image. The study hypothesized that this conflict results from strain caused by a conflict between assimilation and acculturation, coupled with discrimination and the identity problems created as a result of growing up in a family whose familial and cultural norms differ from those of the host society.

O autorze

Alexis Aronowitz holds a doctorate in Criminal Justice from the University at Albany, New York. She is a senior lecturer and academic advisor at University College Utrecht, the Netherlands. Alexis has worked on violent hate crimes and human trafficking for various international and U.N. organizations and has published extensively on these topics.