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Abstract
This study pioneers the quantitative research of second generation Iranian graduates in Germany. Second generation immigrants in Germany, immigrants raised in Germany with at least one parent born abroad, are relevant as they are a crucial part of German society. Second generation immigrants in general as well as Iranians in particular are assumed to have high extrinsic aspirations. But a dataset big enough to study the employment situation of second generation Iranian graduates in Germany did not exist. Therefore, the article uses the KOAB dataset from 2011 to 2015, which contains data from 53,429 full-time employed higher education graduates in Germany (among those are 161 second generation Iranians). Their extrinsic job aspirations and career success (income, job satisfaction) are analyzed. Multivariate analyses reveal the higher extrinsic job aspirations of second generation Iranian graduates compared to many other migrant groups and Germans but similar to second generation Turkish graduates. Nevertheless, the extrinsic job aspiration is relevant, though only one factor among others to predict career success.
ORCID
Lars Müller http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3811-0144
Notes
1 Woellert and Klingholz, Neue Potenziale.
2 E.g. Ayazi, Iranische Absolvent/-innen deutscher Hochschulen.
3 Gresch and Kristen, Staatsbürgerschaft oder Migrationshintergrund, 211. Having a migration background usually means being immigrated or being the descendant of immigrants. However, slightly different variations in the measurement of migration background exist. Nevertheless, the common assumption is that people from the same origin, i.e. with the same migration background, share some relevant characteristics, which can facilitate or hinder their integration in the country of destination.
4 We will use the term “second generation Iranian graduates” for this group. International graduates coming to Germany to study are not part of our framework. In this paper we try to shed some light on second generation immigrants’ aspirations. International student mobility is not our topic here.
5 Esser, Integration und ethnische Schichtung; A narrow sense of assimilation raises questions about the possibility of an Iranian ethnic identity in foreign countries (Bozorgmehr and Douglas, “Success(ion),” 7). We limit our research to integration in the educational system and the labor market, hoping for further research about Iranian identities in Germany.
6 Esser, Integration und ethnische Schichtung, 22.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.; Kalter and Granato, “Different Groups, Same Mechanisms?”
9 Farsi, Migranten auf dem Weg, 155.
10 Geissler, Die Sozialstruktur Deutschlands.
11 Luthra, “Explaining Ethnic Inequality.”
12 This section refers to Agha, Lebensentwürfe im Exil and Farrokhzad, Zwischen Aufstiegsorientierung und Deklassierung.
13 The main destinations of the Iranian elite were the USA, France and the UK (Agha, Lebensentwürfe im Exil, 59). In the USA also the educational achievement of Iranians in 1980 “is not only substantially higher than educational level in urban Iran in 1976 but is also higher than that of natives and recently arrived immigrants in the United States” (Bozorgmehr and Sabagh, “High Status Immigrants,” 34).
14 Kroth, “Effects of College Cost.”
15 Haug et al., Muslimisches Leben in Deutschland.
16 This is similar to the religious attitudes of second-generation Iranians in the USA (Mahdi, “Ethnic Identity,” 85).
17 Haug et al., Muslimisches Leben in Deutschland,13‒14. Muslim immigrants from Turkish or North African origin are very religious. This is also visible in daily life. These groups have the highest share of headscarf wearing women, Iranians the lowest (p. 195). For immigrants from Turkish origin there exist further qualitative studies (e.g. Kelek, Teilnahme von muslimischen Kindern) about participation in German education and culture, e.g. less participation of girls at sports or swimming lessons at school.
18 Koopmans, Germany and its immigrants.
19 Münz and Ohlinger, Long-Distance Citizens. In World War II, Stalin ordered the deportation of ethnic Germans living in the Soviet Union (e.g. in the autonomous German Volga Republic) to Siberia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (p.162). When the cold war ended, many ethnic Germans migrated to Germany. In some German towns these immigrants lived then socially and spatially concentrated while relying on Russian speaking ethnic networks (p.177, 178).
20 Nowadays, naturalization has become easier; see also Kalter and Granato, Educational Hurdles, 282.
21 In recent works, Koopmans, Does assimilation work? shows another side of this story - weakening the discrimination hypothesis. Muslim migrants who do not persevere in their own culture (language, media use, interethnic contacts) have a labor market participation similar to Germans.
22 E.g. in the years 2014 and 2015, 100% of the Iranians receiving German citizenship kept their Iranian citizenship whereas only about 17 % of the Turkish immigrants receiving German citizenship kept their Turkish citizenship, Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, Migrationsbericht 2014, 161; Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, Migrationsbericht 2015, 178.
23 Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, Migrationsbericht 2014, 158.
24 Main reason for Turkish immigrants who do not want to receive German citizenship is that they do not want to give up their Turkish citizenship, Sauer, Einbürgerungsverhalten, 64.
25 Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder, Mikrozensus 2018, 39. If respondents have attained their educational degree abroad, they are asked to name the German equivalent.
26 Farrokhzad, “Zwischen Aufstiegsorientierung und Deklassierung,” 141; You will find the success story of second-generation Iranians in the USA in Bozorgmehr and Douglas, “Success(ion).”
27 Haller, “Aspiration,” 484.
28 Ayazi, Iranische Absolvent/-innen deutscher Hochschulen.
29 Wohlkinger et al., “Motivational Concepts,” 157.
30 Abele and Spurk, “Self-efficacy and Career Goals,” 54.
31 Ibid.
32 Sewell et al., “The Educational and Early Occupational Attainment Process”; Sewell et al., “The Educational and Early Occupational Status Attainment Process: Replication and Revision.”
33 Breen and Goldthorpe, “Explaining Educational Differentials,” 283.
34 Hossler and Stage, “Postsecondary Educational Plans”; Goyette and Xie, “Educational Expectations.”
35 Jodl et al., “Early Adolescents’ Occupational Aspirations.”
36 Sewell and Shah, “Social Class, Parental Encouragement.”
37 Becker and Gresch, “Bildungsaspirationen.”
38 Kristen and Dollmann, “Sekundäre Effekte der ethnischen Herkunft”; Salikutluk, “Immigrant Students Aim High.”
39 Van de Werfhorst and Tubergen, “Ethnicity, Schooling, and Merit in the Netherlands.”
40 Brinbaum and Cebolla-Boada, “School Careers of Ethnic Minority.”
41 Jonsson and Rudolphi, “Weak Performance—Strong Determination.”
42 This paragraph mainly refers to Becker and Gresch, “Bildungsaspirationen.” The theories have been rarely tested. Salikutluk, “Immigrant Students Aim High,” recently tested the theories simultaneously. For pupils in Germany with a Turkish background, she finds empirical support for the wish for status improvement (can be interpreted as positive selection or immigrant optimism), the benefits of high educational attainment (interpreted as blocked opportunities) and social capital (measured via the aspiration of best friend and mother), but no support for information deficit.
43 Kao and Tienda, “Optimism and Achievement.”
44 Becker and Gresch, “Bildungsaspirationen,” 82.
45 Ogbu, “Variability in Minority School Performance,” 328.
46 Kao and Tienda, “Educational Aspirations of Minority Youth.”
47 However, Tjaden and Hunkler, “Optimism Trap,” deliver recent evidence that information deficit does not play an important role in explaining the high ambitions of immigrants.
48 Heath and Brinbaum, “Explaining ethnic inequalities.”
49 Kao and Tienda, “Educational Aspirations of Minority Youth.”
50 Van den Maagdenberg and van der Laan Bouma, “Opvattingen”; Te Lindert, “Perceived Discrimination.”
51 Becker, “Human Capital.”
52 Spence, “Job Market Signaling.”
53 Kim et al., “Field of Study.”
54 Kalter and Granato, “Different Groups, Same Mechanisms?”; Heath and Cheung, “Unequal Chances.”
55 E.g. Germany: Koopmans et al., “Ethnische Hierarchien”; Sweden: Agerström et al., “Hiring Discrimination.”
56 Koopmans, “Does Assimilation Work”; see also Granato, “Effekte der Gruppengröße.”
57 Koopmans, “Does Assimilation Work,” criticizes Heath and Cheung, “Unequal Chances,” as an example for doing so.
58 Worbs, “Second Generation in Germany.”
60 Gresch and Kristen, “Staatsbürgerschaft oder Migrationshintergrund.”
61 There are several theories that try to explain the high aspirations of second generation immigrants (see section Existing Studies and Theory). In our study, we cannot analyze why second generation Iranian graduates have higher extrinsic aspirations than Germans. Our dataset has not been established for this purpose. An interesting approach has been empirically tested by Ichou, Immigrants’ Educational Selectivity. He shows that it is not sufficient to analyze the parental status in the country of destination but also in the country of origin. Thus, the relative position in the country of origin has to be taken into account. This seems a well promising approach which might on the other hand be difficult to test for Iranians. We would need detailed information on the relative status during the years of Iranian revolution.
62 Wanous et al., “Overall Job Satisfaction.”
63 Reliability means the exactness of a test. A test is the more reliable the more it is free from random measurement errors (Schermelleh-Engel and Werner, “Methoden der Reliabilitätsbestimmung”). There are different ways of measuring it. The items used in our study seem to be acceptable.
64 Pietrzyk and Graser, Gütekriterien des Fragebogens, 65.
65 Becker and Gresch, “Bildungsaspirationen.”
66 Iranian graduates show a similar pattern. However, perhaps due to low case numbers, it is not significant.
67 Alba and Nee, American Mainstream.
68 Foner and Alba, “Immigrant Religion.”
69 Carol and Schulz, “Religiosity.”