Oppositional culture revisited. Friendship dynamics and the creation of social capital among Turkish minority adolescents in Germany

Abstract

Ethnic differences in the endowment with social capital can exacerbate intergroup inequalities. Pursuing this argument, we first compare the educational compositions of friendship networks between Turkish minority and native majority adolescents in Germany. Second, we pick up notions from Oppositional Culture Theory (OCT) to examine how ethnic differences in the composition of friendship networks come about. In a sample of 2,419 students in 74 secondary schools, we focus on the effort, achievement, and anti-school behaviour of peers and the role these play in adolescents' friendship selection. Results from multilevel stochastic actor-oriented models reveal that Turkish minority adolescents prefer highly engaged and high-achieving peers as friends. Despite these preferences, Turkish minority adolescents' social networks still provide lower levels of social capital on aggregate than majority members' networks. We attribute this to systematic variation in the opportunity structure. Our results speak against the existence of anti-school norms among Turkish minority youth. Still, our study supports the OCT's notion that an ethnic group's structural positioning within society can result in selective acculturation processes and distinct patterns of social embeddedness.

The Link between Social and Structural Integration: Co- and Interethnic Friendship Selection and Social Influence within Adolescent Social Networks

“…Although no racial differences have been reported in preferences for higherachieving friends (Flashman 2012), Turkish-minority adolescents in Germany seem to have distinct preferences for befriending highly engaged and high-achieving peers (Lorenz et al 2021). High-aspiring peers might, therefore, also appear to be particularly attractive friends for these students.…”

“…Friendship networks among adolescents are heavily segregated in ethnic and racial terms (Boda, Néray, and Snijders 2020;Leszczensky and Pink 2019;Moody 2001), and many ethnic minority adolescents, including those of Turkish origin in Germany, are often surrounded by disadvantaged peers (Flashman 2012;Lorenz et al 2021). The initially high educational expectations of these adolescents (see Salikutluk 2016) might lead to the establishment of social norms within coethnic networks that support academic striving.…”

“…This is because the social influence of co-and interethnic social ties can enhance ethnic minority members' educational success only when these ties provide important resources (Zhou 1997). Although a few studies have investigated ethnic differences in the academic characteristics of friends (Flashman 2012;Lorenz, Boda, and Salikutluk 2021), the extent to which such differences translate into ethnic inequality in educational attainment is still unknown.…”

Social networks, cultural capital, and educational inequality: Investigating network mechanisms and differences in academic achievement

“…Against this background, I argue that these students are more inclined to select higher performers as friends above and beyond the effects of school grades and cultural homophily as well as shared foci. As friends provide a source of social capital (Crosnoe et al, 2003;Frank et al, 2008;Lorenz et al, 2021), culturally-advantaged adolescents might be willing to purposefully invest in these relationships to potentially benefit at a later point in time whereas adolescents who are less familiar with the educational system might not see the importance of this. However, even without this strategic investment in social relationships, higher-achieving peers might be more attractive for adolescents with more cultural capital.…”

Ethnic In-and Out-Group Friendships Going Into Early Adolescence: Prevalence, Quality, Stability, and the Role of the Network Structure

“…These terms are often used interchangeably and are overlapping, making it hard to distinguish between nationality, ethnicity, and culture both conceptually and empirically (Jugert et al, 2022). Many European studies use the term “ethnic group”, which they often equate with countries of origin (e.g., Smith & Schneider, 2000; Lorenz et al, 2021). Ethnicity can be defined as "a characterization of a group of people who see themselves and are seen by others as having a common ancestry, shared history, shared traditions, and shared cultural traits such as language, beliefs, values, music, dress, and food’ (Cokley, 2007, p. 225).…”