Being a Muslim in Europe:attitudes and experiences

Saffron Karlsenwith James Nazroo

Department of Epidemiology and Public Health

University College London

Introduction

• Impact of socioeconomic disadvantage and racism among different ethnic groups

• Overlap between ethnic and religious affiliations

• Increase in religious discrimination since 9/11

“an anti-Muslim wind blowing across the European continent” (Modood 2003:100)

HSE1999 and EMPIRIC

HSE 1999• economic status and occupation• educational attainment • social support

EMPIRIC• social and economic difficulties• discrimination and harassment• religion, religosity and spiritual beliefs

• ethnic identity

Religious differences in sociodemographic indicators

0102030405060708090

100

Female Age 16-34 Born in UK Religion very impt

Hindu Sikh Muslim Christian None

Religious differences in indicators of racism

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Victim of violence British employers racist

Hindu Sikh Muslim Christian None

Religious differences in health experience

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Self-assessedfair/poor health

Limiting illness Depression

Hindu Sikh Muslim Christian None

Religious differences in socioeconomic status

0

5

10

15

2025

30

35

40

45

Never worked Problems paying bills

Hindu Sikh Muslim Christian None

Sociodemographic variation among Muslims

0

20

40

60

80

100

Female Age 16-34 Born in UK Religion very impt

Bangladeshi Indian Pakistani

Variations in racist victimisation among Muslims

0

5

10

15

20

25

Victim of violence British employers racist

Bangladeshi Indian Pakistani

Variations in health experience among Muslims

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Self-assessedfair/poor health

Limiting illness Depression

Bangladeshi Indian Pakistani

Variations in social position among Muslims

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Never worked Problems paying bills

Bangladeshi Indian Pakistani

To do:

• Other indicators in HSE and EMPIRIC

• Explore trends in sociodemographic, socioeconomic and health circumstances using ONS Longitudinal Study

Linked data 1% sample from British censuses since 1971 + registration data (500000 cases)

• Muslims in Europe study with European Social Survey

Muslims in Europe study: methodsLondon:

Follow-up to the EMPIRIC

141 Bangladeshi Muslims interviewed by telephone

Madrid:

Random sample of 205 Moroccan Muslims from a Council

list of Moroccan nationals

Berlin:

Random sample of 225 Turkish Muslims from list of Turkish names from telephone directories

Muslims in Europe study: sample variations

Time of migration:Turkish migration to Germany – late 1950s

Bangladeshi migration to Britain – early 1960s

Moroccan migration to Spain – 1980s

Size of communities119,000 Turkish Muslims in Berlin

156,000 Bangladeshi Muslims in London

20,000 Moroccan Muslims in Madrid

Muslims in Europe: sample variations

0102030405060708090

No qualifications Citizenship Group experiencesdiscrimination

London Bangladeshi Berlin Turkish Madrid Moroccan

Feeling ‘at home’ in your country of residence Odds ratios Birthplace

Year of migration

Country of residence: (London = 1)

Madrid 0.08 0.16

Berlin 0.05 0.07

Age 1.03 1.01

Citizenship of country of residence 1.84 2.03

Perceptions and experiences of racism: (None = 1)

Group treated with less respect 1.22 1.10

Group experiences discrimination 0.71 0.61

Personal experience of discrimination 0.63 0.39

Year of migration - 0.96

Not born in country of residence 0.37 -

No trust in the media 1.19 1.14

No trust in the police 1.23 1.31

No trust in the government 0.84 0.74

No trust in the EU 0.61 0.73

No trust in the US government 1.20 1.11

No trust in the UN 0.56 0.48

Attitudes towards immigration in Britain, Germany and Spain

(Martinez-Herrera & Moualhi 2004)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Share customs Different religions Christian background

Spain UK Germany

Thanks to: ESRC, UCL and the ME team, especially Berta Álvarez-Miranda, Joachim Bruess and Ken Kollman

Muslims in EuropeImmigration experiences, citizenship, household characteristics, education, religious and ethnic identity, social capital and networks, political attitudes, discrimination, institutional trust, attitudes towards immigration

European Social Survey

Social trust, political attitudes, social exclusion, religion, discrimination, national and ethnic identity, immigration and asylum issues, citizenship, social networks