Netherlands: The effects of a mixed neighborhood

Netherlands: The effects of a mixed neighborhood

One interesting finding is that almost 60% of Turks think there are too many foreigners.  See also: Hague: Too many foreigners


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Non-Western immigrants who live in 'black' neighborhoods, have less contact with ethnic Dutch than immigration who live in 'white' neighborhoods.  That is the conclusion of the study 'Maakt de buurt verschil?'(Does the neighborhood make the difference?) by the Social and Cultural Planning Bureau (SCP).  The report was presented Wednesday.  The study was prepared for the Ministry of Housing and Integration.

According to the researchers, mixing ethnic Dutch and immigrations increases the chances for contact.  The report also shows that education, language, employment and generation are important explanations for the existence of mutual contact.

The ethnic composition of the neighborhood doesn't only influence the level of contact between ethnic Dutch and immigrants in the neighborhood itself, but also the contacts that the residents make at work, in clubs, while doing sports or in friendships and choosing partners.  The more non-Western immigrants the neighborhood has, the less contact immigrant residents have with ethnic Dutch.  Ethnic Dutch in a 'black' neighborhood associate more with immigrants than ethnic Dutch who live in a 'white' neighborhood.

The researchers say that 52% of ethnic Dutch never associate with non-Western immigrants for leisure activities.  35% of Turkish-Dutch, 29% of Moroccan-Dutch, 17% of Antillian-Dutch and 14% of Surinamese-Dutch never associate with ethnic Dutch out of work.

The researchers say that the ethnic composition of the neighborhood doesn't influence much the image the ethnic Dutch and immigrants have of each other.  Personal characteristics were much more important for forming that image.

About 40% of the respondents of Turkish, Moroccan and Antillean origin and 33% of Surinamese-Dutch personally experienced discrimination.

About 40% of Turkish-Dutch and 35% of Moroccan-Dutch would oppose it if their children would choose an ethnic Dutch spouse.  Surinamese and Antilleans don't think it's as bad, respectively 5% and 3% would make a point of it.  22% of the ethnic Dutch weren't charmed by the idea that their children would choose an immigrant partner.

Ethnic Dutch were least positive about Moroccan and Antillean Dutch [ed: both groups appear quite often in the news regarding crime].  On a scale of 0-100, Moroccans got 45 points, Antilleans 48, Turks 55 and Surinamese 58.  Non-Western immigrants were in general more positive about ethnic Dutch.

58% of the Turks think that the Netherlands is full and should not accept more immigrants, compared to 44% of ethnic Dutch and about 33% of Moroccan, Surinamese and Antilleans who think there's too many foreigners.

The researchers concludes that a huge concentration of immigrants in a neighborhood does not affect one's opportunities, and that employment vs. welfare depends more on such things as education and language.

However, it does affect such things as crime and quality of life.  In neighborhood with little mutual contact and a quickly changing composition, crime increases and quality of life declines.

Sources: Telegraph, Stentor (Dutch)

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