Ethnic Identity and Religious Mobilisation of the European Second Generation: Comparing Muslim Youth in Multicultural Cities

Project leader: Professor Karen Phalet, Utrecht University, (The Netherlands)

Religion is a central aspect of ethno-cultural diversity in European societies. Three aspects of ethno-religious diversity were investigated in this project: changes in religiosity of (self-identified) Muslims over time, cross-national variation in religiosity and different national discourses on Muslim identification. All three parts of the project shared an inter-group approach that looked at Muslims as a religious, but also ethnic minority in increasingly diverse European societies.

The emphasis was on the second immigrant generation of Muslim heritage which was systematically compared to the first generation as well as the native reference population. Throughout, religion was conceptualised as multi-dimensional, that is to say comprising attitudes, behaviour and self-identification.