2,000 Families: identifying the research potential of an origins-of-migration study is an article published in the Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies. It outlines the theoretical and methodological discussions in the field, design and data of the 2,000 Families study and provides indicative findings, framed within a theoretical perspective of “dissimilation” from origins, and reflect on its potential for future migration research.
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New data can answer key migration questions
Questions about the real benefits of migrating from one country to another can now be answered with the help of the unprecedented 2000 Families data.
The research team led by Dr Ayse Guveli at the University of Essex spent 5 years collecting information about men who migrated from certain regions of Turkey to Europe in the 1960s and the impact this had on their lives, the lives of their children and their grandchildren no matter where they ended up in the world.
The study, 2000 Families: Migration Histories of Turks in Europe, has collected and now published information on nearly 50,000 individuals.
The data includes information about the complete genealogies of 2000 ancestors who were born in five high sending regions in Turkey between 1925 and 1945. Eighty per cent of these ancestors moved to Europe between 1960 and 1974 while 20% stayed put.
From basic information about where they are from, their age and sex to their education and jobs, their religion, family and friendship networks and their attitudes, beliefs and orientation about gender roles, politics and culture, the data is now available for researchers around the world to use in their efforts to better understand the real impacts of migration.
The researchers behind the project have already published a book which takes a first look at what the study can tell us about how migrants get on compared with those who stay behind.
From the sort of education and jobs they get to how many children they have, their attitudes towards gender equality and religion, the book provides fascinating insights into the effects of migration on families over three to four generations.
Ayse Guveli hopes other researchers will now delve into the freely-available data-set to look at a range of migration research questions.
Because we collected information from those who left, those who stayed and those who returned, this detailed and rich information can help us understand much better who benefits and who loses in the migration process. We also get a much better feel for the impact that moving has on people’s attitudes and beliefs around important issues such as gender equality and arranged marriage.
The data is available to download from the GESIS data service.
Listen to lead researcher Ayse Guveli talk about the 2000 Families project .
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In Episode 4 of our 2000 Families podcast, Professor Bernhard Nauck from the Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany talks about what the study tell us about migration patterns.
The interview is based on his chapter Migration and Return Migration in the book Intergenerational consequences of migration: Socio-economic, family and cultural patterns of stability and change in Turkey and Europe.
Electoral participation and intergenerational transmission among Turkish migrants in Western Europe is research which investigates the links between the voting habits of Turkish families who have migrated to Europe compared with their non migrant counterparts.
The study makes use of data from the 2000 Families project to examine whether immigration affects the extent to which children of migrants are more likely to vote if their parents vote (and vice versa).
The research by 2000 Families co-researcher Niels Spierings, shows a stronger similarity in going to the voting booth between parent and child pairs in Europe than Turkey, but only if the child grew up in Europe. European citizens with a Turkish background who vote in national elections in Europe thus seem to mobilize other household members.
The 2000 Families podcast series has launched this week with its first episode now available on our website and on iTunes, where you can subscribe to the series and future episodes.
Lead researcher Ayse Guveli kicks our podcast off with an interview about the background to the study, the data that has been collected from the study’s 50,000 participants and an overview of some of the study’s first findings.
Future episodes will include interviews with Ayse’s international team of academics about their research using the data. They will include findings about education and work, family and friends, marriage and fertility, religion, attitudes and beliefs.
The series is produced and edited by former BBC journalist, Christine Garrington of Research Podcasts.
Photo credit: Mardin by Evgeni Zotov
The first research findings from our unprecedented and unique research study looking at the lives of 50,000 Turkish family members have been published in a fascinating new book.
The book examines how Turkish migrants, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have benefited from moving to Europe by looking at a whole range of things from their education and work to friends and family, religion and culture.
Its approach is unique in that it compares the lives of those who migrated to nine different European countries with those families who chose not to leave.
In the first episode of our 2000 Families Podcast, lead researcher on the study, Dr Ayse Guveli from the University of Essex explains the background to this Norface funded project.
Photo credit: Yavuz Selim Uylas
A book showcasing the first research findings from the 2000 Families project has now been published.
The book looks at how Turkish migrants, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren have benefited from moving to Europe by comparing a range of outcomes to those of Turkish families who stayed behind.
From the jobs they got to how they got on at school and university, their relationships with friends and family to their attitudes towards religion, marriage, gender and Turkish culture, the book provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the Turkish diaspora.
Lead researcher on the project behind the book, Ayse Guveli, said:
‘Migration is a life-changing experience not only for migrants themselves but also for those left behind. Our unique approach and the unprecedented data we have collected from 2000 Turkish families and their 50,000 family members reveals the true impact of migration across many aspects of their lives.’
Intergenerational consequences of migration: Socio-economic, family and cultural patterns of stability and change in Turkey and Europe is written by Ayse Guveli, Harry B.G. Ganzeboom, Lucinda Platt, Bernhard Nauck, Helen Baykara-Krumme, Ṣebnem Eroḡlu, Sait Bayrakdar, Efe K. Sözeri, and Niels Spierings.
The book is published by Palgrave Macmillan.
Impacts of migration on marriage arrangement is research looking at parents’ influence on the marriage choices of their children among a group of Turkish migrants and their non migrant counterparts in Turkey.
The research makes use of 2000 Families data and indicates a strong decline of arranged marriages over the past four decades with arranged marriages less frequent among migrants in Western Europe than among stayers in Turkey.
The study by 2000 Families co-researcher Helen Baykara-Krumme shows the difference between migrants and non migrants is largest among second generation children.
Educational outcomes and mobility in Turkish migrants and non-migrant families is a doctoral thesis by 2000 Families team member, Sait Bayrakdar. It makes use of the project’s data to compare across three generations how well Turks in European countries do relative to their non-migrant counterparts in Turkey. Here he explains more about the research and how it brings a new perspective to studies focusing on the success of migrants.
My thesis takes a new perspective on the impacts of migration by attempting to determine whether migrants are doing better than they would have had they stayed in their country of origin, in this case Turkey.
Using three different measures of educational outcomes, the research shows that in terms of relative position, Turks are at the bottom of the societies they live in and, therefore, less successful than Turks in Turkey. However, in terms of skills and qualifications in formal education, they gain from migration and obtain better results.
A comparison of second and third generation families in the study showed that Turks in Europe obtained better results than Turks in Turkey in both generations, while in the third generation, the gap between migrant and non-migrant groups narrowed.
I believe the closing of the gap between Turks in Europe and Turks in Turkey can be explained by the fact that although educational expansion was a feature of both sending and receiving countries, Turkey was in fact a relative latecomer to the process and has, therefore, been able to do more to help the more recent generation of the 2000 Families participants by narrowing, but still not fully closing, the gap.
Parents’ socio-economic characteristics were less important for the educational outcomes of migrants than non migrants, which would indicate that migration makes intergenerational transmission more difficult.
I also looked specifically at third generation participants to see what, if any, effect grandparent and parent characteristics had on their educational outcomes. Although there was some level of direct effect of grandparents, these were weaker for Turks in Europe, suggesting that migration acts as a sort of ‘breaking point’ in transmissions.
To see if there were any differences in outcomes for Turks educated in Europe, I compared the qualifications, skills and relative position of those participants living in Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden. I also compared their outcomes with those of the destination country’s natives.
Although, on the face of it, Turks living in Sweden and Denmark had the highest qualifications, their position within the educational composition of those countries wasn’t necessarily better than other countries. Conversely, while Turks living in Germany appear to be the most disadvantaged, the differences were smaller when we looked at their relative position.
As a result of my investigations, I go on to argue that when it comes to the question of adequately measuring educational outcomes, the composition of the individual countries should be taken into account.
For ethnic capital, I find that the parents’ proportion of neither co-ethnic friends nor colleagues has any bearing on the educational outcomes of Turks in Europe.
Those who speak the host country language with their parents at home are likely to do better and obtain higher educational qualifications. Relying on the language of the ethnic community results in lower qualifications.
My thesis, I believe, brings a new perspective to bear on research focusing on the success of migrants. It seems that migrants do, on the whole, benefit from migration relative to their non-migrant counterparts, but it’s important to note that where educational attainment is concerned, there are, nevertheless, many of their native peers who do better and this provides food for thought.
It is also important to note how our Turkish migrants are at the bottom of the educational ladder in their receiving countries, even if their qualifications are better than those of those educated in Turkey.
Nevertheless, the wider educational opportunities that European countries offer do seem to lead to better outcomes. Whether Turks in Europe will continue to enjoy this advantage over Turks in Turkey for a long time is a question of the pace at which educational expansion in Turkey will take place in the following decades.
Educational outcomes and mobility in Turkish migrants and non-migrant families is a doctoral thesis by Dr Sait Bayrakdar. The research is also featured in a book produced by the 2000 Families project team.
If you would like to find out more you can contact him by email at bayrakdarsait@yahoo.com.
Photo credit: Sarah Barker
Returning, staying, or both? Mobility patterns among elderly Turkish migrants after retirement is research looking at when and why long-term migrants stay or leave their destination country.
The article, by 2000 Families researcher Helen Baykara-Krumme uses the data to look at the movements of the study’s participants when they retire; whether they stay in their destination country, permanently move back to their country of origin or go back and forth.
The study finds that transnational migration is common among participants aged 65 or over. Key factors in a permanent return to Turkey are owning property there and religiosity.
Transmigrants and stayers in Europe have intense transnational ties with a strong attachment to their country of origin.