To what extent do young men with a migration background feel discriminated against? And what is their understanding of masculinity? Oldenburg educationalist Rudolf Leiprecht surveyed more than 700 people in Lower Saxony - and sees a "huge challenge for society".
"Young people with a migration background are confronted with a high degree of exclusion and discrimination and perceive this as a significant burden," summarises Prof. Dr Rudolf Leiprecht, educationalist at the University of Oldenburg and initiator of the study.
"Quantitative survey on the life situation and life organisation of young men with a history of migration in Lower Saxony" is the title of the study, which has now been completed. It was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science (MWK). "Researching the life situation of migrants provides us with important information for improving social cohesion. The study shows possible starting points for local integration work and provides valuable impetus," emphasises Lower Saxony's Science Minister, Prof. Dr Johanna Wanka.
Leiprecht is an expert in racism prevention and diversity-conscious social education. Together with his colleagues Erol Karayaz and Alexander Langerfeldt, he analysed the experiences and views of more than 700 male adolescents and young men aged between 15 and 21. They interviewed three groups: Male adolescents with a Turkish, Polish or Russian migration background and male adolescents without a migration background.
The level of education of the interviewees was in the lower and upper secondary school range. The differentiation according to migration background is a rough classification, as the groups are by no means homogeneous in reality, emphasises Leiprecht. "For the individual young people, the migration background is often not the most significant distinguishing category and usually not the only important factor in their lives. Nevertheless, they are aware of the social categorisation that is made in society in one way or another - often with the help of terms such as 'foreigner', 'Turk' or 'Russian' - and which has a - negative - effect."
This is also reflected in the results of the study. Although more than half of the respondents with a Turkish migration background have German citizenship, the majority of them - 51 per cent - feel like "foreigners". For young people with a Russian or Polish migration background and German citizenship, the figure was significantly lower at 38 per cent. What both groups have in common, however, is that they feel marginalised to a considerable extent and experience this as a significant burden. "Self-categorisation as 'foreigners' in both groups and their experiences of discrimination represent a huge challenge for society. The main reason for this is that the so-called majority society has problems categorising young people with a migration background as naturally belonging," says Leiprecht.
The Oldenburg researchers compared their findings with a study by Ursula Boos-Nünning and Yasemin Karakasoglu on young women with a migrant background. This showed that young men and young women with a migration background have different experiences: The male adolescents experience discriminatory situations one and a half times more frequently than female adolescents. "Obviously, stereotypical negative attributions - threatening, dangerous, violent - have an impact on the experiences of young people. Negative attributions that are particularly focussed on male adolescents," explains Leiprecht.
In view of these attributions, the researchers also analysed the young people's self-image - with regard to masculinity. The surprising result: the image of "gentle masculinity" met with a high level of approval on average among young people with a Turkish background. However, those with a Russian or Polish background rejected it just as much as young people without a migration background. When asked about traditional masculinity in the family, however, the results are quite different in some cases: Here, it is always the young people without a migrant background who were less harsh and less traditional on average. Overall, the study makes it clear that constructions of masculinity are more complex and inconsistent than is generally assumed.
"For work in pedagogical fields of action, this means that we must warn against quick categorisations and fixations: Quite a few young people exhibit thought patterns and perspectives that are quite contradictory," says Leiprecht. It is important to support the "positive side" in educational work. At the same time, greater awareness of discrimination and marginalisation is urgently needed.