Federal Institute for Population Research

Peer-Reviewed Articles in Scientific JournalsThe Importance of a Religious Funeral Ceremony Among Turkish Migrants and Their Descendants in Germany: What Role do Socio-demographic Characteristics Play?

Milewski, Nadja; Otto, Danny (2016)

Journal of Intercultural Studies 37(2): 162–178

DOI: 10.1080/07256868.2016.1141760

Our paper analyses the attitudes of Turkish migrants and their descendants in Germany regarding the importance of a religious funeral ceremony. Previous research provides competing hypotheses on the intergenerational transmission of religiosity in migrant communities, such as, declines in religiosity due to assimilation versus maintenance of religiosity as a means to ethnic identity formation. Quantitative research however has not yet considered funerals. Our study utilises data from the Generations and Gender Survey; our sample comprises roughly 4000 people of Turkish migrant background aged 18–81, most of whom are Muslims. We apply logistic regression methods to attitudes regarding the importance of a religious funeral ceremony. More than 80 per cent of the respondents maintained that a religious funeral ceremony was important. Examination of individual characteristics revealed variation by education, partner's origin, and citizenship. Overall, however, Muslim funeral traditions are sustained across first- and second-generations.

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