A substantial share of Europe's population consists of immigrants and the children of immigrants. Using European Social Survey data, this study examines whether the gender egalitarian values of immigrants are shaped by the gender relations in their origin country and whether they adapt their values to the standards of their residence country. The analyses show that immigrants originating from countries with very inegalitarian gender relations support gender equality less than members of mainstream society. However, immigrants adapt their gender ideology to the standards of their residence country, and the origin context loses force over time. Both, acculturation within the first generation and acculturation across the generations play a role; but women tend to 'assimilate' within the first generation and more thoroughly than men.

Several recent studies show that immigrants exhibit higher levels of trust in public institutions than natives. This study uses pooled data from the European Social Survey to examine possible reasons for this 'over-confidence' of immigrants, arguing that it is largely the relatively lower expectations of immigrants from countries with poorer institutional performance that account for this difference. The eminent role of expectations is also underscored by the finding that low social standing matters less for the level of trust of immigrants than it does for natives. The 'frame of reference effect' weakens over time and with increased acculturation in the country of residence, suggesting that expectations are less strongly based on experiences in the country of origin the better integrated an immigrant is in the country of residence. A small part of immigrants' higher trust levels overall and some of the dual frames of reference effect are also explained by the more conservative value orientations of immigrants from countries with lower political stability, who appear to regard stability and conformity more highly, which in turn is associated with higher levels of institutional trust.

This study examines whether the confidence of immigrants in European countries in criminal justice institutions can be explained by two counteracting processes: expectations formed in the country of origin and discrimination experienced in the residence country. The study draws on the pooled waves of the European Social Survey (2002-8), comparing first-and secondgeneration immigrants from 66 countries of origin with natives in 21 residence countries. Multilevel regressions are employed to examine the relationship between confidence in institutions and proxy variables for the processes under study. The data strongly support the hypothesis that the high confidence of first-generation immigrants can be explained by frames of reference formed in the country of origin. Some, but limited, support is also found for the impact of discrimination.

No abstract

No abstract