Europe‟s „Others‟?
Young people, Islam and
European identity
Susan Condor
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.
1
Imagining Europe and its „Others‟:
Views from the interviews
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity. 2
What is European?
• Diversity • Common values &
„culture‟
• “ the countries are just
• “a place of common
totally different. How can
values”
we all be part of one when
they think that, we think
this?” • “Europe... is the centre of
global culture”
• “a sort of mesh, a mix of
people and cultures and
countries”
3
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.
What is Not European?
The (North) American The Islamic
“Europe is the solution to the “I think Europe is Christian.
American Empire with all the And I don„t want to say that
globalisation that‟s Islam is worse or better.“
happening”
“Europe to me means
“To me being European is a democracy, it means not
sort of defence against the being dominated by religious
culture of American dogma, unlike Muslim
individualism” countries today”.
4
Islam as Other
Little „blatant‟ prejudice
Subtle Islamophobia:
Their „difference‟ from „us‟
Symbolic Islamophobia (modernity, civilization)
Religion: not Christian, not secular
Values: democracy, human rights
Social & political concerns: (animals, women)
Threat:
Cosmopolitanism
Global faith versus territorial loyalties
5
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.
Young Muslims in Europe:
Responses to the survey
Survey respondents‟ religious identity:
None/agnostic: 1887 (40%) Roman Catholic: 1630 (35%)
Protestant/ C of E: 721 (15%) Muslim 194 (4%)
Most Muslim respondents:
Manchester (54)
Vienna (41)
Vorarlberg (48)
Bielefeld (41)
6
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.
Are young Muslims more inclined to identify with
a global community?
7
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.
Territorial identity:
State and European attachment
3. 2
3. 0
2. 8
2. 6
2. 4
Level of attachment
2. 2
EUROPE
2. 0 ST ATE
NONE PROT RC M USLI M
RE LIGION
8
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.
Are young Muslims less concerned about
national security?
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity. 9
Do young Muslims have „different‟ social and
political concerns?
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity. 10
Conclusions (1)
• Young people from all research sites could view Islam as
beyond the acceptable boundaries of Euro-diversity
• Islam often understood as the antithesis of „European‟
values and as a threat to the integrity and security of
„European‟ territorial identities
• The young Muslim Europeans did on average identify more
strongly with a global community than agnostic and
protestant respondents.
BUT…
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity. 11
Conclusions (2)
• …The young Muslims on average identified as highly as
other young Europeans with the State in which they lived
and with Europe (& the EU)
• …They were, on average, as much, if not more, concerned
about national security and the threat of terrorism
• …They were, on average, generally concerned about
similar social and political issues
• …On average, they displayed less individualistic values,
and more concern for values of equality
BUT…
12
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.
Coda
…we should be wary of countering one stereotypical
representation with another
Young Muslim Europeans may not, statistically, conform to
the „folk devils‟ of majority imagination
but neither are they, in reality, a singular, monolithic, group
13
Orientations of young men and women to citizenship and European identity.