BAM - becoming a minority

Output

This is the first European survey that addresses the perspective of people without a migration background living in diverse neighborhoods. The outcomes of the BaM project will be shared using different types of output available on this website and four PhD theses.

Team

  • Special Issue of JEMS

    In this Special Issue of JEMS (Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 49, Issue 8, 2023, open access) we present the findings from the BaM project. In the introduction we discuss the literature and theoretical notions about the experiences and the impact of people without migration background in contemporary superdiverse cities. The Special Issue comprises of 8 articles based on the BaM data and an article by guest authors Wallace and Favell.

    https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cjms20/49/8

  • The Integration in Diversity theory

    Watch the video of the lecture Maurice Crul gave in Tallinn, Estonia, presenting a new theoretical framework based on the BaM project outcomes: The Integration in Diversity theory.
  • De Nieuwe Minderheid. Over mensen zonder migratieachtergrond.

    Na ruim veertig jaar discussie, onderzoek en beleid gericht op migranten, hun kinderen en hun kleinkinderen is het tijd voor een boek over de vergeten groep in het integratiedebat: de mensen zonder migratieachtergrond. Zij vormen inmiddels een numerieke minderheid in veel grote steden. Hoe ervaren zij de superdiverse stad? Nemen zij deel aan de diversiteit? Deze nieuwe minderheid vindt het doorgaans een verrijking om in een cultureel diverse stad te wonen, maar tegelijkertijd hebben maar weinigen van hen een gemengde vriendengroep. Veel mensen zonder migratieachtergrond hebben niet van jongs af aan geleerd om diversiteit in de praktijk ‘te doen’. Diegene die zich de kunst van het samenleven hebben eigengemaakt voelen zich meer thuis in de superdiverse stad, zij hebben meer contacten en meer plezierige interacties. Participeren in een diverse omgeving blijkt goed voor je eigen welzijn.

    Het papieren boek is te bestellen: https://vuuniversitypress.com/product/de-nieuwe-minderheid/

    Het online boek is gratis te downloaden via: De-nieuwe-minderheid-Crul-en-Lelie-2023.pdf (vuuniversitypress.com)
  • The New Minority. People Without a Migration Background in the Superdiverse City

    After more than forty years of discussion, research and policies aimed at migrants, their children and their grandchildren, it is high time for a book that focuses on a group that has been overlooked in the integration debate: people without a migration background. In many major European cities, this group has become a numerical minority. How do they experience today’s superdiverse cities? How do they engage with diversity? These and related questions were answered in the international Becoming a Minority (BaM) research project. An important outcome was that people without a migration background generally see living in an ethnically diverse city as enriching but very few have ethnically mixed friendship groups. Many members of this new minority group have not learnt to ‘do diversity’ from an early age.

    This book shows that people who have mastered the art of living together in a diverse environment have more social contacts and enjoyable interactions, resulting in a greater sense of belonging in the superdiverse city. Participating in your diverse surrounding appears to be good for your own well-being.

    The book is available as a paperback: https://vuuniversitypress.com/product/the-new-minority/ or as a free download via: https://vuuniversitypress.com/wp-content/uploads/20230911-Crul-Minority-Open-Access.pdf
  • "Das ist die größte Herausforderung dieses Jahrhunderts"

    Wie fühlt sich eine Mehrheitsgesellschaft, wenn sie keine mehr ist? Der Soziologe Maurice Crul hat sich lange mit dieser Frage beschäftigt. Sein neues Projekt heißt: "Becoming a Minority". Dafür haben Crul und Kolleginnen mehr als 3.000 Menschen ohne Migrationshintergrund aus fünf Ländern zu ihren Einstellungen gegenüber Einwanderung und Vielfalt befragt. Im Sommer 2023 erscheint ein Buch dazu, das kostenlos über die Website BaMproject.eu heruntergeladen werden kann. ZEIT ONLINE hat mit Maurice Crul im November und Dezember 2022 über Zoom gesprochen, in zwei Sitzungen. Das Interview gehört zur Zeit Serie "Die neue Stadt".

    PDF: "Das ist die größte Herausforderung dieses Jahrhunderts"
  • Signalling inclusion, increasing belonging: People without a migration background in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods

    People without a migration background tend to segregate in multicultural cities and have little contact with people of other ethnic backgrounds. To receive a better understanding of mechanisms underlying processes of segregation in such neighbourhoods, we focus on contexts in which people without a migration background are a numerical ethnic minority while another ethnic group is dominant. Using a vignette survey experiment conducted in Amsterdam (n = 364), we show that certain forms of inclusion indirectly increase the willingness to frequent places in the neighbourhood in which people without a migration background are an ethnic minority. In particular, we examine the effects of a direct (all-inclusive approach) and an indirect (numerical representation) form of inclusion on the feeling of belonging. The results show that the feeling of belonging is increased by a direct sign of inclusion which in turn increases the willingness to frequent the contexts.
    Lisa-Marie Kraus & Maurice Crul (2022) " Signalling inclusion, increasing belonging: People without a migration background in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods", City, Culture and Society.

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2022.100461
  • ‘Een samenleving bouw je niet alleen, dat moeten we gezamenlijk doen’

    Er is een nieuw diversiteitsbeleid nodig: all inclusive diversity. Dat betoogt hoogleraar diversiteit en onderwijs Maurice Crul. Hij doet zijn uitspraken in een gefilmd gesprek met Bahram Sadeghi, aan de vooravond van de talkshow van Kennisplatform Integratie & Samenleving (KIS). ‘Iedereen moet verantwoordelijkheid nemen voor de diverse samenleving

    ‘Een samenleving bouw je niet alleen, dat moeten we gezamenlijk doen’
  • The Compass; My Perfect City: Integration in Rotterdam

    An episode of BBC World's series The Compass; My Perfect City: Integration in Rotterdam. Rotterdam is lauded for its policies on integrating immigrant populations into the city. What exactly has it got right? Among other voices on this, Prof Maurice Crul adds the perspective of the Becoming a Minority project: how do the people without migration background experience the superdiverse city?

    The Compass; My Perfect City: Integration in Rotterdam
  • Measuring the impact of diversity attitudes and practices of people without migration background on inclusion and exclusion in ethnically diverse contexts. Introducing the diversity attitudes and practices impact scales

    Assimilation and integration processes have been studied widely and for many years, mainly by looking at the attitudes and practices of people with migration background. This article focusses on the mirror group: the people without migration background. The authors propose a new model, the Diversity Attitudes and Practices Impact (DAPI) scales, to assess the impact they have on inclusion and exclusion in ethnically diverse contexts.

    Maurice Crul & Frans Lelie (2021) "Measuring the impact of diversity attitudes and practices of people without migration background on inclusion and exclusion in ethnically diverse contexts. Introducing the diversity attitudes and practices impact scales", Ethnic and Racial Studies

    PDF: Crul and Lelie 2021 Measuring the impact of diversity attitudes and practices of people without migration background on inclusion and exclusion in ethnically diverse.pdf

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2021.1906925
  • How the Architecture of Housing Blocks Amplifies or Dampens Interethnic Tensions in Ethnically Diverse Neighbourhoods

    Little research has been done so far in the Netherlands into why ethnic tensions in diverse neighbourhoods occur or, also interesting, why they do not occur. This article analyses the possible influence of the physical environment: How does the architecture of housing blocks and neighbourhoods amplify or dampen ethnic tensions in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods? We use data obtained from the Amsterdam city council for two Amsterdam neighbourhoods, one of which typically features inner-city apartments, and the other is consisting of mainly suburban housing blocks. Although their ethnic composition is almost identical, these neighborhoods show almost opposite outcomes in Amsterdam in terms of social cohesion and ethnic tensions.

    DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/si.v8i1.2109
  • Moving into multiculturalism. Multicultural attitudes of socially mobile individuals without a migration background

    This paper sheds light on the former ethnic majority’s attitudes towards multiculturalism. Among those without a migration background, the focus is put on socially mobile individuals in order to disentangle the influence of primary and secondary socialization on attitudes towards multiculturalism. The paper reveals that both upward and downward mobility associates to more optimistic multicultural attitudes. The authors argue that the experience of social mobility equips people with a reflexivity which allows them to have a more optimistic perspective on the multi-ethnic city.

    Lisa-Marie Kraus & Stijn Daenekindt (2021) "Moving into multiculturalism. Multicultural attitudes of socially mobile individuals without a migration background", European Societies.

    DOI: https://doi-org.vu-nl.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/14616696.2021.1976415
  • Value-Laden Ideal Types? ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Nationalism in Academic Research

    This blog post examines an academic distinction that is frequently also reflected in public discourse: that between ethnic and civic nationalism. This distinction is often made to analyse public discourse, public policy, and individual understandings of the nation-state. In these analyses, civic nationalism is often implicitly understood as the “better” nationalism. In this blog, Marina Lazëri demonstrates why this is a problematic assumption, and at the same time explores the enduring value of these categories.

    Value-Laden Ideal Types? ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Nationalism in Academic Research - IMISCOE
  • The nation-state is a dogma: Methodological nationalism and assumption-free social science

    This blog examines the concept of methodological nationalism, namely the tendency of scholars to see the nation-state as a natural and self-evident social and political form. Nonetheless, as nation-states remain the most pervasive form of social and political organisation, Marina Lazëri explores how we can avoid the pitfalls of methodological nationalism while still taking into account nation-states in our research.

    The nation-state is a dogma: Methodological nationalism and assumption-free social science - IMISCOE
  • The culturist aftertaste of integration: integration as the national imagination

    Calls for re-examining the concept of integration in migration studies are becoming more and more common. In this blog post Marina Lazëri examines the concept of integration within the framework of the nation-state to see whether there is something fundamentally problematic about the concept of integration, or whether the issue is mostly with the way in which we use the concept.

    The culturist aftertaste of integration: integration as the national imagination - IMISCOE