The Turkish and Moroccan Second Generation in the Netherlands: Divergent Trends between and Polarization within the Two Groups

Abstract

This article examines the socioeconomic and sociocultural status of the second-generation Turkish young people in the Netherlands, comparing them to their Moroccan counterparts. The comparative perspective can better highlight the characteristic features of the Turkish second generation. The educational status of both the Turkish and the Moroccan young people is still weak, especially by comparison with their ethnic Dutch peers. The obstacles that second-generation migrants encounter in their educational careers are many and diverse, and these derive both from inside their own groups and from institutional structures and other forces in Dutch society. Among the latter has been the delay in introducing professional second-language training, which resulted in Dutch language deficiencies and poor primary school achievements. This, in combination with early school selection mechanisms at age 12, has consigned the vast majority of second-generation children to short, dead-end lower vocational or secondary school tracks. Unemployment is extremely high among the second-generation migrants with short educational tracks, and discrimination in the labor market hits this group especially hard. Despite all this, the number of second-generation young people who have succeeded in getting a better education is growing, and they are now well equipped to seek employment. An important factor in their success has been the mutual help and support they have received from family and community networks.