A cosmopolitan explanation of the integration paradox: a mixed methods approach

Abstract

Recent studies conclude that higher-educated migrants experience less belonging to the residence country than lower-educated migrants, which has been dubbed the integration paradox. World citizenship is a possible explanation yet has been left untheorized and empirically untested. We are the first to theorize and test this mechanism for Turkish migrants in the Netherlands using a mixed-methods approach. Results based on the NIS2NL survey confirm that world citizenship is an explanation of this paradox when acknowledging its interplay with belonging to the origin country. World citizenship is associated with a lower sense of belonging to the Netherlands, albeit only when migrants feel a low sense of belonging to Turkey. These findings are underlined by in-depth interviews with purposively sampled highly-skilled Turkish migrants (N = 32). Moreover, two proposed narrative strategies are vital to understand the negative association between world citizenship and national belonging. World citizenship is thus key in understanding the integration paradox.