The Influence of Religious Involvement of Turkish Migrants in the Netherlands on Their Political Participation: The Role of Group Identity and Perceived Discrimination

The aim of this study is to research to what extent religious involvement of Turkish migrants in the Netherlands affects their readiness to vote and whether this effect can be explained by group identity and perceived discrimination. Firstly, two aspects of religious involvement are investigated, namely mosque attendance and membership of a religious organization. It is hypothesized that both types of religious involvement have a positive effect on readiness to vote. Secondly, the mediating influence of two types of group identity is examined, namely Muslim and Turkish identity, and perceived discrimination is measured on the personal level. Furthermore, progressive and traditional norms and values and group discrimination were also included in the theoretical framework, however, these mediators could not be tested. The first wave of the NELLS dataset (2009) is analyzed using a mediation model. Firstly, the results show that religious involvement of Turkish migrants positively impacts their readiness to vote. Active involvement, i.e. membership of a religious organization, plays a larger role than passive involvement, i.e. mosque attendance. Secondly, none of the mediators explain the relationship between religious involvement and readiness to vote. Therefore, future research should include more mediators, such as progressive and traditional norms and values and group discrimination. Moreover, future studies should focus on the different Islamic branches and other active forms of religious involvement, and use a larger and more representative sample.