2000 Families Research: Some Findings and Potential for Future Research
Ayşe Güveli2.000 Aile Araştırması: Bazı Sonuçlar ve Gelecek Araştırmalar için Potansiyeli
Ayşe GüveliDespite recent advances, critical areas in the analysis of European migration remain underdeveloped. We have only a limited understanding of the consequences of migration for migrants and their descendants, relative to staying behind; and our insights of intergenerational transmission is limited to two generations of those living in the destination countries. These limitations stem from a scarcity of studies and data that include comparisons with those left behind and return migrants – in origin countries and which trace processes of intergenerational transmission over multiple generations in the migration context. Typical research on migrants and their descendants compares their whereabouts to natives or other migrant groups in the destination countries. However, to understand and reveal the impact of migration and change and stability after migration, research should take into account how migrants and their offspring compare to those non-migrants in the origin societies.
This paper outlines the theoretical and methodological discussions in the field, design and data of the 2,000 Families: Migration Histories of Turks in Europe study. It is estimated that more than five million people of Turkish descent live in Western Europe, making it one of the largest migrant groups in Europe. The fact that it is so large makes it of real interest, because research shows that the larger the migrant group, the slower the integration processes. Furthermore, Turks in Europe are predominantly Muslims or have Islamic background, which forms another important feature to investigate their migration, dissimilation and integration trajectories.
The 2000 Families research is an unprecedented study that has interviewed some 50,000 Turkish people – both migrants and non-migrants about their education, jobs, marriage, religion, friendships and family, and attitudes to gender and tradition. It begins with 2,000 Turkish men born between 1920 and 1945 from five distinct regions in Turkey. It then tracks the journeys of 1,600 of them to nine European countries as guest workers, and continues to follow their lives and those of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It furthermore traces the family genealogies of approximately 400 non-migrant ancestors from the same sending regions (Sarkışla, Akçaabat, Kulu, Emirdağ and Acıpayam) of the pioneer guest workers.
This paper introduces the unique design of the 2000 Families study, and its datasets, and discusses the research potential for future research. It provides some core findings from the study, framed within a theoretical perspective of “dissimilation from origins”, and reflects on its potential for future migration research in all fields of the social sciences. By tracing the family lineages of both migrants and non-migrants, the survey broadens the scope of research to include multi-generational transmission and the influence of grandparents on grandchildren. By covering early labour migrants and their descendants spread across eight host societies, it allows an exploration of the likely cross-country differences in the economic, social, cultural and/or political integration of a sizeable migrant Muslim group in Europe. The survey captures return migrants, providing a rare opportunity to shed light on an understudied area.
The rich datasets are stored in the GESIS data archive and are open for researchers to explore and answer hitherto unanswerable research questions on multigenerational transmission, international migration, Turkish migration, (transnational) family relations, friendship, socioeconomic, cultural, political, religious behaviour, attitudes, values and relations.
Initial findings from the 2000 Families study show that migrants and their descendants do benefit from moving to Europe. Migrants and their three generations of descendants have higher education and occupational status, especially women gain more educational and employment benefits than men. They are also less likely to be in an arranged marriage, tend to have fewer children and demonstrate more gender equalitarian attitudes. The research also shows the migrants’ attachment to their home country’s culture and traditions decreased slightly over family and migration generations. The 2000 Families study illustrates how important and enlightening it is to compare migrants with non-migrants across multiple family and migration generations, rather than predominantly with natives in the destination country.