Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T22:48:23.977Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aspirations and Job Success of Highly Qualified Second Generation Iranians in Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Lars Müller Open the ORCID record for Lars Müller [Opens in a new window]  and
René Kooij
Lars Müller
Affiliation:
INCHER-Kassel
René Kooij
Affiliation:
Institute for Applied Statistics (ISTAT)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study pioneers the quantitative research of second generation Iranian graduates in Germany. Second generation immigrants in Germany, immigrants raised in Germany with at least one parent born abroad, are relevant as they are a crucial part of German society. Second generation immigrants in general as well as Iranians in particular are assumed to have high extrinsic aspirations. But a dataset big enough to study the employment situation of second generation Iranian graduates in Germany did not exist. Therefore, the article uses the KOAB dataset from 2011 to 2015, which contains data from 53,429 full-time employed higher education graduates in Germany (among those are 161 second generation Iranians). Their extrinsic job aspirations and career success (income, job satisfaction) are analyzed. Multivariate analyses reveal the higher extrinsic job aspirations of second generation Iranian graduates compared to many other migrant groups and Germans but similar to second generation Turkish graduates. Nevertheless, the extrinsic job aspiration is relevant, though only one factor among others to predict career success.

Keywords

Second generation IraniansJob successHigher educationAspirations
Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 1-2 , March 2019 , pp. 159 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This article is based on a paper presented at the 30th Annual Consortium of Higher Education Researchers Conference (CHER 2017 Conference), 28‒30 August 2017 in Jyväskylä, Finland. We are grateful for vivid discussions that helped this paper develop.

References

Abele, A. E., and Spurk, D.. “The Longitudinal Impact of Self-efficacy and Career Goals on Objective and Subjective Career Success.” Journal of Vocational Behavior 74 (2009): 53–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agerström, J., Björklund, F., Carlsson, R., and Rooth, D.-O.. “Warm and Competent Hassan=Cold and Incompetent Eric: A Harsh Equation of Real-Life Hiring Discrimination.” Basic and Applied Social Psychology 34, no. 4 (2012): 359–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agha, T. Lebensentwürfe im Exil. Biographische Verarbeitung der Fluchtmigration iranischer Frauen in Deutschland.Frankfurt/Main: Campus Verlag, 1997.Google Scholar
Alba, R. D., and Nee, V..Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.Google Scholar
Ayazi, C. “Should I stay—or should I go”—Iranische Absolvent/-innen deutscher Hochschulen. Perspektiven und Lebenswege.Wiesbaden: World University Service, 2013.Google Scholar
Becker, G. S. “Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis.” The Journal of Political Economy, 70 (1962): 9–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, B., and Gresch, C..“Bildungsaspirationen in Familien mit Migrationshintergrund.” In Ethnische Ungleichheiten im Bildungsverlauf: Mechanismen, Befunde, Debatten, edited by Diehl, C., Hunkler, C., and Kristen, C., 73–115.Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breen, R., and Goldthorpe, J. H.. “Explaining Educational Differentials—Towards a Formal Rational Action Theory.” Rationality and Society 9 (1979): 275–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinbaum, Y., and Cebolla-Boado, H.. “The School Careers of Ethnic Minority Youth in France.” Ethnicities 7, no. 3 (2007): 445–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozorgmehr, M., and Douglas, D.. “Success(ion): Second-Generation Iranian Americans.” Iranian Studies 44 (2011): 3–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bozorgmehr, M., and Sabagh, G.. “High Status Immigrants: A Statistical Profile of Iranians in the United States.” Iranian Studies 21 (1988): 5–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge. Migrationsbericht 2014.Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2016.Google Scholar
Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge. Migrationsbericht 2015.Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2016.Google Scholar
Carol, S., and Schulz, B.. “Religiosity as a Bridge or Barrier to Immigrant Children’s Educational Achievement?” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 55 (2018): 75–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esser, H. Integration und ethnische Schichtung.Mannheim: MZES, 2001.Google Scholar
Farrokhzad, S. “Zwischen Aufstiegsorientierung und Deklassierung in Bildung und Beruf - Frauen und Mädchen aus dem Iran in Deutschland.” In Migration, Gender, Arbeitsmarkt. Neue Beiträge zu Frauen und Globalisierung, edited by Varela, C., Do Mar, M., and Clayton, D., 127–54.Königsstein/Taunus: Ulrike Helmer Verlag, 2003.Google Scholar
Farsi, A. Migranten auf dem Weg zur Elite? Zum Berufserfolg von Akademikern mit Migrationshintergrund.Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foner, N., and Alba, R.. “Immigrant Religion in the U.S. and Western Europe: Bridge or Barrier to Inclusion?” International Migration Review 42, no. 2 (2008): 360–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geissler, R. Die Sozialstruktur Deutschlands.7, grundlegend überarbeitete Auflage Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goyette, K., and Xie, Y.. “Educational Expectations of Asian American Youths: Determinants and Ethnic Differences.” Sociology of Education 72 (1999): 22–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granato, N. “Effekte der Gruppengröße auf die Arbeitsmarktintegration von Migranten.” KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 61, no. 3 (2009): 387–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gresch, C., and Kristen, C.. “Staatsbürgerschaft oder Migrationshintergrund? Ein Vergleich unterschiedlicher Operationalisierungsweisen am Beispiel der Bildungsbeteiligung.” Zeitschrift für Soziologie 40 (2011): 208–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haller, A. O. “On the Concept of Aspiration.” Rural Sociology 33 (1968): 484–7.Google Scholar
Haug, S., Müssig, S., and Stichs, A..Muslimisches Leben in Deutschland—im Auftrag der Deutschen Islam Konferenz.Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2009.Google Scholar
Heath, A., and Brinbaum, Y.. “Explaining Ethnic Inequalities in Educational Attainment.” Ethnicities 7 (2007): 291–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, A., and Cheung, S. Y.. “Unequal Chances: Ethnic Minorities in Western Labour Markets.” Oxford: British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hossler, D., and Stage, F. K.. “Family and High School Experience Influences on the Postsecondary Educational Plans of Ninth-Grade Students.” American Educational Research Journal 29 (1992): 425–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ichou, M. “Who They Were There: Immigrants’ Educational Selectivity and Their Children’s Educational Attainment.” European Sociological Review 30 (2014): 750–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jodl, K. M., Michael, A., Malanchuk, O., Eccles, J. S., and Sameroff, A.. “Parents’ Roles in Shaping Early Adolescents’ Occupational Aspirations.” Child Development 72 (2001): 1247–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jonsson, J. O., and Rudolphi, F.. “Weak Performance—Strong Determination: School Achievement and Educational Choice among Children of Immigrants in Sweden.” European Sociological Review 27 (2011): 487–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalter, F. and Granato, N.. “Educational Hurdles on the Way to Structural Assimilation in Germany.” In Unequal Chances. Ethnic Minorities in Western Labour Markets, edited by Heath, A. and Cheung, S. Y., 271–319.Oxford: British Academy/Oxford University Press, 2007.Google Scholar
Kalter, F., and Granato, N.. “Different Countries, Different Groups, Same Mechanisms? The Structural Assimilation of the Second Generation in Europe (D, F, Gb) and the United States.” In United in Diversity? Comparing Social Models in Europe and America, edited by Alber, J., 360–80.International Policy Exchange Series 1.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Kao, G., and Tienda, M.. “Optimism and Achievement: The Educational Performance of Immigrant Youth.” Social Science Quarterly 76 (1995): 1–19.Google Scholar
Kao, G., and Tienda, M.. “Educational Aspirations of Minority Youth.” American Journal of Education 106 (1998): 349–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelek, N. Teilnahme von muslimischen Kindern, insbesondere Mädchen, am Sport-, Schwimm- und Sexualkundeunterricht an staatlichen Schulen, Teilnahme an Klassenfahrten.Expertise im Auftrag des Bundesamtes für Migration und Flüchtlinge.Nürnberg, 2006.Google Scholar
Kim, C. H., Tamborini, C. R., and Sakamoto, A.. “Field of Study in College and Lifetime Earnings in the United States.” Sociology of Education 88, no. 4 (2015): 320–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koopmans, R. “Germany and its Immigrants: An Ambivalent Relationship.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 25 (1999): 627–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koopmans, R. “Does Assimilation Work? Sociocultural Determinants of Labour Market Participation of European Muslims.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42 (2016): 197–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koopmans, R., Veit, S., and Yemane, R..Ethnische Hierarchien in der Bewerberauswahl: Ein Feldexperiment zu den Ursachen von Arbeitsmarktdiskriminierung.Discussion Paper SP VI 2018-104. Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, 2018.Google Scholar
Kristen, C., and Dollmann, J.. “Sekundäre Effekte der ethnischen Herkunft: Kinder aus türkischen Familien am ersten Bildungsübergang.” In Vom Kindergarten bis zur Hochschule: Die Generierung von ethnischen und sozialen Disparitäten in der Bildungsbiographie, edited by Becker, Birgit and Reimer, David.1st ed.117–44.Wiesbaden: VS Verl. für Sozialwiss, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroth, A. J. “The Effects of College Costs and Financial Aid in Germany. Why Are Students Sensitive to College Costs in a Low-cost/High-aid System?” In Fairness in Access to Higher Education in a Global Perspective: Reconciling Excellence, Efficiency and Justice, edited by Meyer, H.-D., St. John, E. P., Chankseliani, M., and Uribe, L., 153–69.Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luthra, R. R. “Explaining Ethnic Inequality in the German Labor Market: Labor Market Institutions, Context of Reception, and Boundaries.” European Sociological Review 29, no. 5 (2013): 1095–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahdi, A. A. “Ethnic Identity among Second-Generation Iranians in the United States.” Iranian Studies 31 (1998): 77–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Münz, Rainer, and Ohliger, Rainer.“Long-Distance Citizens: Ethnic Germans and Their Immigration to Germany.” In Paths to Inclusion. The Integration of Migrants in the United States and Germany, edited by Peter Schuck, and Rainer Münz, 155–201. New York: Berghahn Books, 1998.Google Scholar
Ogbu, J. U. “Variability in Minority School Performance: A Problem in Search of an Explanation.” Anthropology and Education Quarterly 18 (1987): 312–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pietrzyk, I., and Graser, A..Gütekriterien des Fragebogens des Kooperationsprojekts Absolventenstudien.INCHER Working Paper Nr. 6.Kassel: INCHER-Kassel, 2017.Google Scholar
Salikutluk, Z. “Why Do Immigrant Students Aim High? Explaining the Aspiration–Achievement Paradox of Immigrants in Germany.” European Sociological Review 32 (2016): 581–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sauer, Martina.Einbürgerungsverhalten türkeistämmiger Migrantinnen und Migranten in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Ergebnisse der dreizehnten Mehrthemenbefragung 2012. Essen: Zentrum für Türkeistudien und Integrationsforschung, 2013.Google Scholar
Sewell, W. H., and Shah, V. P.. “Social Class, Parental Encouragement, and Educational Aspirations.” American Journal of Sociology 73 (1968): 559–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sewell, W. H., Haller, A. O., and Portes, A.. “The Educational and Early Occupational Attainment Process.” American Sociological Review 34 (1969): 82–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sewell, W. H., Haller, A. O., and Ohlendorf, G.W.. “The Educational and Early Occupational Status Attainment Process: Replication and Revision.” American Sociological Review 35 (1970): 1014–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schermelleh-Engel, K., and Werner, C.. “Methoden der Reliabilitätsbestimmung.” In Testtheorie und Fragebogenkonstruktion, edited by Moosbrugger, H., and Kelava, A., 120–41.Heidelberg: Springer, 2012.Google Scholar
Spence, M. “Job Market Signaling.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 87 (1973): 355–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder.Stichprobenerhebung über die Bevölkerung und den Arbeitsmarkt. Mikrozensus und Arbeitskräftestichprobe 2018 der Europäischen Union.Fragebogen, 2018.Google Scholar
Statistisches Bundesamt.Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit. Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund. Ergebnisse des Mikrozensus 2016.Fachserie 1 Reihe 2.2, 2016.Google Scholar
Te Lindert, A., Korzilius, H., van de Vijver, F. J. R., Kroon, S., and Arends-Tóth, J.. “Perceived Discrimination and Acculturation among Iranian Refugees in the Netherlands.” International Journal of Intercultural Relations 32, no. 6 (2008): 578–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tjaden, J. D., and Hunkler, C.. “The Optimism Trap: Migrants’ Educational Choices in Stratified Education Systems.” Social Science Research 67 (2017): 213–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van de Werfhorst, H. G., and van Tubergen, F.. “Ethnicity, Schooling, and Merit in the Netherlands.” Ethnicities 7, no. 3 (2007): 416–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maagdenberg, Van den, V, . and S.van, der Laan Bouma. “Opvattingen over de multi-etnische samenleving.” In Jaarrapport Integratie 2004, edited by V. van den Maagdenberg, 79–87. Rotterdam: Instituut voor Sociologisch-Economisch Onderzoek, 2004.Google Scholar
Wanous, J. P., Reichers, A. E., and Hudy, M. J.. “Overall Job Satisfaction: How Good Are Single-Item Measures?” Journal of Applied Psychology 82 (1997): 247–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woellert, F., and Klingholz, R..Neue Potenziale. Zur Lage der Integration in Deutschland.Berlin: Institut für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung, 2014.Google Scholar
Wohlkinger, F., Ditton, H., von Maurice, J., Haugwitz, M., and Blossfeld, H.-P.. “Motivational Concepts and Personality Aspects across the Life Course.” In Education as a Lifelong Process: The German Educational Panel Study (NEPS). (Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, Sonderheft 14), edited by Blossfeld, H.-P., Roßbach, H.-G., and von Maurice, J., 155–68.Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2011.Google Scholar
Worbs, S. “The Second Generation in Germany: Between School and Labor Market.” International Migration Review 37, no. 4 (2003): 1011–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar