‘Segmented assimilation:’ Meerdere wegen naar economisch succes?

Abstract

The Dutch debates on immigrant integration currently strongly focus on cultural assimilation of migrants. This focus is partly based on the idea that an orientation on Dutch society and contact with the native Dutch is a condition for economic success. This article questions this assumption. Inspired by the research from Lee and Zhou (2015) among Chinese and Vietnamese migrants in the USA, who are economically successful but nevertheless strongly oriented towards their own community and culture, we examine whether this other route to economic success is also visible in the Netherlands. Our research shows that a relatively small portion (15 per cent) of the economically successful migrants in the Netherlands is relatively strongly oriented towards their own group and not so much towards the Netherlands. We found this alternative route to success primarily with the Turkish group, more with the first generation and older migrants, and more often with migrants who (often) experienced discrimination.