the many sides of muslim integration: a german- american - aicgs

the many sides of muslim integration
starts with a general comparative look at the composition
of Muslim populations in Germany and the
United States and considers the migration background
of a majority of Muslims. Muslims’ socioeconomic
situation will then be highlighted using relevant
data on different aspects of their economic performance
from the above-mentioned studies. This then
leads to the discussion of those factors that might
affect the socioeconomic integration of this selected
population in both countries.
The essay finally asks the question of whether religious
beliefs are a determining factor in a social
group’s economic integration. Factoring in religion
may be relevant, if considerable differences between
Muslims and non-Muslims with similar backgrounds in
integration emerge from this analysis.
Muslims in Germany and the United
States: Data and Facts
SIZE OF MUSLIM POPULATION
The study conducted by the Federal Office of
Migration and Refugees puts the generally accepted
number of Muslims living in Germany in 2009
between 3.8 and 4.3 million, or 4.6 to 5.2 percent of
the total population. In 1987, there were only 1.7
million Muslims in Germany, which accounted for 2.7
percent of the total population. 11 In the U.S. the
number of Muslims is based on estimates as well.
However, unlike in Germany, there is no widely
accepted figure because different institutions,
including Muslim organizations, have given varying
estimates on the number of Muslims in the U.S. The
more recent study by the Pew Research Center estimates
the number to be as high as 2.5 million, which
represents a share of approximately 0.6 percent of the
total population.
COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN
The regional origins of the Muslim population in
Germany have become much more heterogeneous in
the course of the last few decades: Muslims now
originate from forty-nine Islamic countries, although
the dominant group is still those of Turkish descent. 12
Many Muslims in Germany still have Turkish roots but
their proportion has become much smaller due to
18
increased immigration of Muslims from other countries.
13 Thus, almost 63 percent of Muslims have
Turkish roots, Southeastern European Muslims follow
with 14 percent and Muslims from the Middle East,
with 8 percent. 14
In the U.S. no single racial or ethnic group constitutes
a majority of the more diverse Muslim population (from
sixty-eight countries). A relatively large proportion of
Muslim immigrants comes from Arab countries (24
percent), but about as many also emigrated from
Pakistan and other Southeast Asian countries.
Compared to other western countries, the ethnic
composition of the Muslim population in the United
States is exceptional due to the large number of
native-born Muslims. Thus, being Muslim in the U.S.
is not automatically linked to a specific migrant group
as it usually is in Germany or in other European countries.
MIGRATION MOTIVES
In Germany, the reasons for Muslim immigration have
changed along with Muslims’ migration backgrounds
and histories. The earliest notable immigration of
Muslims occurred in the beginning of the 1960s,
when low-skilled labor migrants mainly from Turkey
and North Africa arrived; 15 this group shaped the
socioeconomic situation of Muslims until the 1980s.
In the course of the 1980s a large number of Muslim
refugees and asylum seekers arrived; much of the
immigration history of non-Turkish Muslim immigrants
is rooted in international conflict. Throughout Muslim
immigration to Germany one of the main reasons for
migration has been family reunion.
Today a mixed composition of Muslim migrants’ migration
motives and social and economic background is
evident. This leads to two socially and economically
challenging conditions for a vast number of Muslim
migrants in Germany: First, unskilled workers, often
from poor rural parts of their home countries, still live
with their extended families in relatively deprived
conditions. Second, refugees from war or from inhumane
conditions, such as those from Afghanistan or
Iraq, have limited rights and are in need of social aid.