The German Good Life I Want: Voices of Turkish Origin Girls

162 Pages·2019·1.832 MB·English

by  Pinar Burcu Güner

Rekonstruktive Sozialisationsforschung
Pınar Burcu Güner
The German
Good Life I Want
Voices of Turkish Origin Girls
Rekonstruktive Sozialisationsforschung
Reihe herausgegeben von
Boris Zizek, Hannover, Deutschland
Wie wir zu dem wurden, was wir sind – so könnte der Fokus eines genuin soziali-
sationstheoretischen Zuganges auf den Punkt gebracht werden. Im Kontrast zu
bildungstheoretischen Ansätzen steht weniger das selbstreflexive, konstituierte
Subjekt im Zentrum des Interesses, sondern die es hervorbringenden und tragen-
den Prozesse und die mehr intuitiven, habituellen Bewältigungsformen.
Die rekonstruktive Sozialisationsforschung dreht den am Werden interessierten
Approach um eine Windung weiter, indem sie die Sozialisandin als aktiv welter-
schießende Philosophin und Künstlerin modelliert und methodische Verfahren ins
Zentrum rückt, die das vorgängige, intuitive und explorativ tastende Verhältnis
zur Welt nachzuzeichnen vermögen.
Die Publikationsreihe stellt sich in den Dienst der theoretischen und auch
empirischen Ausarbeitung des Konzepts ‚Rekonstruktive Sozialisationsforschung‘.
Weitere Bände in der Reihe http://www.springer.com/series/15833
Pınar Burcu Güner
The German Good Life
I Want
Voices of Turkish Origin Girls
Pınar Burcu Güner
Bielefeld, Germany
Doctoral Dissertation at the Faculty of Educational Science of the Bielefeld
University under the title: “My Good German Life As a Foreigner”. Voices of
Turkish Origin Girls.
ISSN 2523-8426 ISSN 2523-8434 (electronic)
Rekonstruktive Sozialisationsforschung
ISBN 978-3-658-26069-9 ISBN 978-3-658-26070-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-26070-5
Springer VS
© Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission
or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained
herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with
regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This Springer VS imprint is published by the registered company Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden
GmbH part of Springer Nature
The registered company address is: Abraham-Lincoln-Str. 46, 65189 Wiesbaden, Germany
2.1 The Challenges for Migrant Origin Pupils in the German Education System V
Thank you

Infinite thanks to my advisor Dr. Helen Haste for supporting my doctoral
dissertation. Dr. Haste’s support in finalizing the dissertation was enormous. Dr.
Haste will be a role model as a human and as a scientist for the rest of my life. I
have learned so much from her and I feel very privileged have had Dr. Haste as
my main doctoral advisor. Also, I would like to thank the administration of
Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Education for their support, especially to Dr.
Thessen Siekmeier, who was always available to answer my questions.
I would like to highlight that the first three years of this doctoral research
project was funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Program.
Also during these three years, Bertelsmann Stiftung, a collaboration partner at
Marie Curie Initial Training Network, Education as Welfare: Enhancing
Opportunities for Socially Vulnerable Youth in Europe, has been a great support
for enhancing my knowledge on the German education system and policies as
well as developing my soft skills and data collection. Without the support of all
these institutes and my doctoral supervisor, completing this doctoral dissertation
would not be possible.
Finally, I would like to thank my doctoral committee chairperson, Prof. Dr.
Birgit Lütje-Klose and a doctoral committee member Prof. Dr. Andreas Zick
from Bielefeld University’s Faculty of Educational Science, who have
contributed their very valuable feedback to prepare the dissertation for
publishing.
Dedicated to my beloved Angel, my mom Aysel Güner, who strongly
supported my educational career and my doctoral studies and who believed that
all girls, including myself, should get the best education possible, but whom I
lost in the final phase of preparing this doctoral dissertation for the defense.

Canım anneciğim: Seni herşeyden çok daha seviyorum. İyi ki sen benim annem
oldun bu dünyada.
Table of Contents VII
Table of Contents

1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 1

2 Literature review .......................................................................................... 3
2.1 The Challenges for Migrant Origin Pupils in the
German Education System ............................................................................ 3
2.2 Identity and Identity Threat .......................................................................... 4
2.3 Citizenship .................................................................................................... 5
2.4 Contemporary School Education Reforms for Disadvantaged Pupils .......... 6

3 Theory of the Capability Approach ............................................................ 7
3.1 Capabilities, Functioning’s and Conversion Factors ..................................... 7
3.2 Agency ........................................................................................................ 10
3.3 Women and the Capability Approach ......................................................... 10

4 Methodology ............................................................................................... 13
4.1 Grounded Theory Methodology.................................................................. 13

5 Methods of the Research ............................................................................ 19
5.1 Design of the Research ............................................................................... 19
5.1.1 Pilot Study ..................................................................................... 19
5.1.2 Redesigning the Research after the Pilot Study ............................. 20
5.1.2.1 Research Questions ....................................................................... 21
5.2 Triangulation ............................................................................................... 22
5.2.1 Developing Interview Guidelines for Focus Groups and
Individual Interviews using the Lenses of Capability Approach ... 23
5.3 Sampling the Participants ........................................................................... 25
5.3.1 Socio-Economic Background of the Participants .......................... 26
5.4 Procedures ................................................................................................... 28
5.4.1 Focus Groups ................................................................................. 29
5.4.2 Individual Life-History Interview ................................................. 31
5.5 The process of Data Collection ................................................................... 33
VIII Table of Contents
6 Data analysis ............................................................................................... 35
6.1 Answering Research Questions .................................................................. 44

7 Analysis and Findings ................................................................................ 47

8 Construction of Identity ............................................................................. 51
8.1 Citizenship .................................................................................................. 51
8.2 Religion ....................................................................................................... 56
8.3 Ethnicity ...................................................................................................... 63

9 Education as an Aspiration ........................................................................ 69

10 Marginalization ......................................................................................... 75
10.1 Discrimination ............................................................................................ 75
10.2 Stereotypes .................................................................................................. 85
10.3 Institutional Marginalization ....................................................................... 88

11 Living in a Multicultural Society ............................................................. 93
11.1 Unity ........................................................................................................... 93
11.2 Multiculturalism........................................................................................ 109

12 Discussion of the Research Findings ..................................................... 115
12.1 Answering Research Questions ................................................................ 115
12.2 How the Research Data Incorporates with the Theory of the
Capability Approach ................................................................................. 117
12.3 Validity and Reliability of the Research ................................................... 120

13 Contribution of Doctoral Research to Educational Science and
Capability Approach Research in Germany ........................................ 125
13.1 What is the Most Important Finding of this Research Which Will
Contribute Most to Social Science in Germany? ...................................... 127
13.1.1 The factors that contribute to the identity of girls of Turkish
origin (citizenship, religion, ethnicity) ........................................ 127
13.1.2 The importance of education as a route to the good life .............. 128
13.1.3 The nature and extent to which girls of Turkish origin are
marginalized ................................................................................ 129
13.1.4 The idea of a multicultural society .............................................. 129
Table of Contents IX
13.2 Why is the chosen theoretical model important? ...................................... 130
13.3 What are the Implications for Education and Policy? ............................... 131
13.4 Further Research ....................................................................................... 132

References ........................................................................................................ 135

Appendixes ...................................................................................................... 143
X Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1: Initial purposeful sampling ............................................................... 16
Figure 2: Grounded Theory Process Used for Data Analysis........................... 17
Figure 3: The Grounded Theory Method Utilised ............................................ 18
Figure 4: Mapping Overlapping Categories – Dimensions of Identity ............ 39
Figure 5: Final Theoretical (Abstract) Categorization of the Findings ............ 42
Figure 6: Coding Process for Theorizing ......................................................... 44

Table 1: Survey Results of the Socio-economic Questionnaire ...................... 26
Table 2: Focus Group Interview Questions .................................................... 30
Table 3: Focus Group Interview Guideline ..................................................... 31
Table 4: The Life History Interview Guideline ............................................... 32
Table 5: Example of Open Coding and Memo Writing .................................. 36
Table 6: Example from the Code Book .......................................................... 37
Table 7: Example for Building Focused Coding from Open Coding .............. 40
Table 8: Developing Theoretical Coding with Memo .................................... 40
Table 9: Capabilities for a Good Life ........................................................... 120