Institutional Trust among second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands: a qualitative study on the role of familial socialization, transnationalism and political instability in the country of origin

This thesis contributes to scholarly debates on the sources of institutional trust in immigrant populations, specifically focusing on the factors influencing the trust of African second-generation immigrants in The Netherlands. Building on literature highlighting the role of pre-migratory experiences, as well as the influence of instability in the sending country on the political behaviour of immigrants in the receiving societies, the study explores how second-generations perceive political instability in their country of origin and how this shapes their trust in Dutch institutions. It brings an innovative contribution to the field from a methodological point of view, by adopting a qualitative research method to investigate narratives, opinions and reasoning behind the institutional trust of a demographic whose confidence in political institutions is often only represented in quantitative studies. It also brings further empirical evidence supporting the explanatory leverage of experiential theories on the sources of institutional trust by showing the important role played by day-to-day encounters with institutions in the development of second-generation trust or distrust. <br /> Results show that the institutional trust of Dutch-African second-generations is predominantly limited to the dimensions of functioning and reliability of the institutions, and seldom extended to the dimensions of fairness, transparency, and representation. This scepticism is often grounded on personal experiences of discrimination with institutions. Familial political socialization also plays a role in the transmission of perceptions of political instability in the country of origin, with this encouraging a limited ‘trust bonus’ on the efficiency of Dutch institutions, especially compared to the institutional dysfunctionality in the origin countries.<br />