Friendship, partnership and family

There are only a few group-related studies in Germany on normative ideas of young people with a migration background regarding friendship, partnership and family. The project researched how young men and women with migration experience imagine their own friendships, partnership and family, whether these ideas differ from the wishes of their parents and families and how they depend on social images of femininity and masculinity. Based on the findings, target group-oriented measures and instruments can be developed. Furthermore, the study provides a data basis for better measuring the integration of young people in symbolic-cultural dimensions.

Results: The study has an explorative character and is based on focus group interviews and individual interviews with a total of 43 young women and men with a migration background. Additional data was collected in the context of an interactive artistic workshop. Among other things, the analyses provided information about traditional ideas of femininity and masculinity, independent of the young people's ethnic and religious self-attributions. Nevertheless, the young people show themselves to be very open to alternative life plans of women and men and accept the normative diversity of society.

Although previous studies had provided insights into the living conditions and attitudes of young people with migration experience, systematic research on their ideas about friendship, partnership, and family remained limited. Public discourse was also frequently shaped by stereotypical representations, particularly of young men with migration experience as prone to violence, deviance, religious fundamentalism, or patriarchal attitudes. The project countered these simplifications with empirically grounded and differentiated perspectives on young people’s actual life plans. At the same time, it generated an empirical basis that contributed to research on masculinities and critically examined prevalent assumptions about gender relations.

The aim of the project was to make visible and better understand the diversity of normative ideas and life plans among young men and women with migration experience. The findings were intended to challenge stereotypical representations and provide an empirical basis for developing measures tailored to specific target groups. In addition, the study sought to provide a basis for developing instruments to capture the symbolic-cultural dimension of integration.

The exploratory study was based on focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews with adolescents and young adults with migration experience. Participants were recruited through youth work organisations and youth leisure clubs in Berlin. The focus groups were supported by film excerpts that served as prompts for participants’ narratives and discussions. An arts-based workshop enabled participants to engage more deeply with questions of their own identity and belonging in Germany.

The data were analysed using thematic coding. Combining individual interviews and group discussions provided insights both into individual life plans and into normative ideas that were shared, contested, or negotiated collectively.

The publications resulting from the project showed that the life plans and values of young people with migration backgrounds were considerably more diverse than public stereotypes about patriarchal gender roles or homophobia might suggest. The research also demonstrated that gender, migration, and spatial context are closely interconnected and that young people actively negotiate their understandings of masculinity and femininity. Particular attention was given to experiences of discrimination and racism: the qualitative analyses showed that experiences of racism are often not explicitly named in everyday life, but become visible in emotional narratives and experiences of belonging and exclusion. The project also made a methodological contribution to understanding how qualitative research can make racism visible and examine the politics of interpreting such experiences. Overall, the project contributed to moving beyond deficit-oriented and stereotypical representations of young people with migration backgrounds by making their diverse life plans, processes of negotiation, and experiences of belonging and exclusion empirically visible.