Negotiating the Boundaries of Belonging

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-IX

   PDF

2. Naturalisation in a Post-National World

   • Nils Witte

   Pages 11-28

3. Theorizing Legal and Symbolic Membership

   • Nils Witte

   Pages 29-44

4. Research Methods

   • Nils Witte

   Pages 45-55

5. Survey Results: Symbolic and Legal Membership

   • Nils Witte

   Pages 57-93

6. Qualitative Interviews: Stigmatization and Destigmatization

   • Nils Witte

   Pages 95-150

7. General Discussion and Conclusion

   • Nils Witte

   Pages 151-172

8. Back Matter

   Pages 173-219

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Nils Witte explores Turkish migrants’ destigmatization strategies and investigates their legal and symbolic motives for naturalisation. Using mixed methods and unique data the author shows that Turkish migrants’ inclination to naturalise would be stronger if they were allowed to retain their former citizenship and if they were recognized as symbolic members of German society. Minority members enjoy expansive rights as permanent residents and many are entitled to hold German citizenship. However, they often experience symbolic exclusion making symbolic membership a rare motive for naturalisation. 

• Destigmatization
• Ethnic boundaries
• Mixed methods
• Survey research
• Model of frame selection
• Citizenship
• sociology of citizenship

• Institut für Soziologie, Medien- und Kulturwissenschaften, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie , Karlsruhe, Germany

  Nils Witte

Nils Witte is research assistant at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. 

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