Social interaction with natives and ethnic identification: a study of minority groups in the Netherlands

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the influence of social interaction with natives on the ethnic self-identification of the four largest migrant groups in the Netherlands. Using data from the Survey Integration Minorities (SIM, 2006), we aim to explain the influence of social interaction with natives on the identification of minority groups with the Netherlands by taking into account the mechanisms of cultural and economic integration. The results show that social interaction with natives is positively related to identification with the Netherlands. Both cultural and economic integration explained a significant part of this relation. In almost all models the positive effects were lowest for the Turkish group and highest for the Surinamese group.