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1 Debate on the Subject

In research on the integration of the children of immigrants in Europe and the United States, the question often arises as to whether this group, as a result of their socialization in their parents’ environment and the hardships spawned by immigration, bears the imprint of a painful foreignness or a sense of not belonging to the country in which they live. At the negative end of the spectrum, it has been suggested that such experiences can lead the members of this group to perceive themselves as distinct from the children of natives, diminishing their sense of commitment to the future of the host society and, to some degree, making them indifferent and even hostile towards it.

There is abundant evidence supporting this view.Footnote 1 In Spain, for instance, in secondary schools – the best-known social context to date – it is clear that adolescent pupils draw distinctions between them and discriminate against one another based on the national origin of their parents. In other countries this has even led to serious incidents, such as those surrounding the murder of Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands or events in the United Kingdom following the terrorist attacks on London buses. Indeed, it could be postulated that the nationality of origin of an immigrant family can lead the next generation to display a lack of commitment and even aggression towards the society in which they live. However, this begs several pressing questions. How widespread is this feeling of animosity from the children of immigrants? How can we prevent similar outcomes? How can we act in time to stop this problem from spreading?

Since the 1990s, when the evolving identifications of the children of immigrants became associated with structural and cultural factors in research on integration , many studies in the European Union have focused on the issue.Footnote 2

Identity development, since then, has been examined with varying degrees of accuracy, often ascribing to it the characteristics that Isajiw (1997) put forward with striking clarity in his influential work on the social incorporation of immigrants. The identities of an individual – in this case the national identity absorbed from their parents by the children of immigrants – would imply their inclusion in a specific group from which others are excluded. In turn, this implies that aspects of self-conception are involved and that a sense of group responsibility and solidarity is created. Conversely, it also suggests an absence of or conflicting emotional ties with the rest of society and a lack of responsibility and solidarity towards host country concerns.

Nonetheless, criticism of this approach is well documented. From an ideological point of view, due to the advance of multiculturalism , it has been argued that, rather than signifying poor integration , the maintenance of the cultural identity of different countries of origin represents an enrichment of host societies and, moreover, a legitimate right of immigrant populations.

From a theoretical-methodological standpoint, critics have also highlighted that the identities that appear in existing field studies are seldom exclusive. For example in Spain, a second-generation Moroccan might identify with the Moroccan group in some circumstances and with the native Spanish peer group in others. That is to say, the identities pinpointed in research on immigrants in general, as Kuo and Margalit (2010) from the Fundación March have stated explicitly, may vary depending on the contexts in which they arise or manifest themselves. In their working paper We Are Chameleons (Ho and Bauder 2010) Canadian scholars describe this metaphorically by asserting that we are all chameleons in terms of identity, which renders irrelevant the question of whether or not the second generation maintains the identity of their parents. This would be especially true for scholars such as Vertovec, supporting the theoretical trends whereby the successful social integration of immigrants or their children in today’s world involves no commitments associated with identity because, in our “superdiverse” societies, interaction occurs with little or no involvement of personal identity but simply in compliance with sporadic conventionalisms that are mechanically and superficially reproduced (Vertovec 2006).

In the light of the above, the question of identity would appear either to be not very relevant to the social incorporation of the children of immigrants or to need tackling with more refined theoretical and methodological tools than those commonly used up to now. This would mainly consist in ascertaining whether or not those belonging to the second generation state that they consider themselves to be nationals of their parents’ country of origin . In such a context we would, however, argue for the need to continue addressing questions on identity formation in studies on the integration of second-generation residents. The fact that the media keep this subject alive by referring, often in an alarmist manner, to the cultural roots that distinguish the children of immigrants from those of native parents presents us with a powerful reason for continued analysis in this field. This would also be true empirically because, as Portes has shown, identity formation is related to deviations in several other indicators regarding how the children of immigrants act.Footnote 3

However, the data to which Portes has referred for holding that opinion are “soft” because they are based on answers, gathered in fieldwork, to the questions “Do you consider yourself Spanish?” and, if not, “From where?” – answers whose real sense cannot be distinguished, as the meaning of the questions can be interpreted in different ways by the respondents. It is also very important, for practical reasons, to know what the respondents really mean when they answer questions on identity, especially if our purpose is to prevent deviations in the integration paths of the children of immigrants who maintain an attachment with the country of their parents which fosters their alienation from normal intercourse in the social relationships of the receiving country.

If this is indeed the case, we must explore how to more fully understand the theoretical challenge posed by children of immigrants who retain the national identity of their parents, while adopting an empirical approach. We shall first consider Côté’s (1996) approach to identity questions before reviewing a summary of the findings from a qualitative study conducted in Madrid in 2011 on the integration of second-generation residents, in which this attempt to gain greater precision in the enquiry into the behavioral and integration effects of asserting a national identity is put into practice.Footnote 4 We have also chosen to review this issue through a qualitative study, because the process of collecting information involved in qualitative methodology itself not only locates the references to national identity that respondents attribute to themselves in their different contexts but goes beyond this, opening up a range of avenues to explore as regards the ways in which national identities emerge, twist or reshape in different ways, depending on the informants.

2 New Understanding and Treatment of the Issue of National Identity : Identity as a Value Linked to a Context

Arguably the first difficulty we encounter, when considering how the second generation ’s retention of the national identity of their parents is individualized, is the lack of reliability of the data provided by respondents in standard surveys. This risk is particularly high if respondents are asked directly, as is standard practice, whether or not they feel Spanish or identify with the nationality of their parents. In such circumstances, the answer given to this question depends too heavily on the real/imaginary context in which respondents find themselves and it is not possible to ascertain whether the meaning of such responses is the same in the different responses given to the question. Kuo and Margalit’s (2010) aforementioned analysis in this area highlights this pitfall clearly.

A more useful approach would be to focus on identity negotiations rather than on identity directly. Identity negotiations involve two characteristics that are not present in direct questions in a survey or interview: first, the background or scenario of the context in which the respondent has come to feel or believe that he or she belongs to a specific nation and, second, the connotations of the weight attributed to this sense of belonging . Both of these characteristics, taken together, make it possible to take into account and neutralize the contextual variation of respondents’ identity behaviors and references. We shall return to this point later in the chapter.

There is further insight to be gained from the methodological possibilities offered to us for exploring the national identity of the children of immigrants. As explained above, examining identity in the contexts in which it is negotiated sheds lights on the value ascribed to it. To consider identity in terms of negotiation is just one step from seeing identity as a value which is negotiated, either downwards – whence the subjects marked by this identity are then rejected – or upwards, in those contexts in which it is privileged by the social majority. This notion of identity as a value has been developed in methodological terms by Côté (1996), who describes it as identity capital in the sense ascribed to this concept by Bourdieu (1977): that is, as a non-monetary resource that we exhibit, defend or hide in order to optimize how we present ourselves when we relate to others (displaying, for instance, professional certificates or exhibiting supposed links to prestigious institutions or families, or as other less tangible resources such as the ability to read situations in which we can place ourselves in the most advantageous manner).

Côté (1996) is thus persuaded – and convincingly shows – that the possession by individuals of more or less valuable signs of his or her identity and of some ability to deal with references to it, has become particularly important in today’s society. Such is the question in dealing with the signs and behavior of foreign identities, if these identities are important for the subjects.

In the same article on the rising importance of identity individualization , Côté reflects on this point, which he summarizes in a double-entry table, headed by the three perspectives from which the identity question can be tackled – namely, social structures, the interaction regime for these structures and the types of identity predominating in them. We can also observe that, in late modernity, ‘tradition-directed identities’ are less important, as are ‘inner-directed identities’, while ‘other-directed identities’ become pre-eminent, thus enhancing the role played by the other people we relate to in our daily lives. Côte’s (1996) ideas are presented as follows.

As shown in Table 11.1, Côté focuses on the three most commonly mentioned stages in terms of social structure: pre-modern societies, the so-called early modern and the current stage – that is, late or post-modernity. Next, he shows how these different structures are related to three different interaction regimes: post-figurative, co-figurative and pre-figurative.Footnote 5 In pre-modernity the interaction regime is ‘post- figurative’ – in other words, based on the experiences of previous generations in early modernity it is ‘co-figurative’ – or based on the interpretation of the present while, in our late modernity, it is ‘pre-figurative’ – or based on projections of the future. In parallel, the creation of identities in the pre-modern period is ‘tradition-directed – or based on the images of the previous generations; in early modernity it reflects personal and internal criteria and, in today’s late modernity, the other people we relate to become the most important factor.

Table 11.1 The link between society, culture and identity
Full size table

Côté, not content with pointing out these aspects – which give more precision to our inquiries on identity – takes this further by descending to more concrete ones. He observes that, in pre-modern societies, the most decisive factors for interaction are the more-or-less-stable experiences of the past with which individuals address their allotted tasks; in early-modern societies, the key factor is the reflection based on knowledge that governs an individual’s decision-making and, in today’s societies, the negotiation of identity is decisive. So much so that identity integration can be defined as the integration of those who are able to negotiate their personal identities without conflict with the members of the mainstream in the society in which they live.

Regarding the second generation , this undoubtedly leads to special attention being paid to the type of identity challenge this might present in our society. It also strengthens the argument for examining the identity negotiations engaged in by the second generation as they become part of society, as such identities will be predominantly ‘other-directed’ – that is, based on what the subjects see in others – rather than based on self-consciousness (‘inner-directed’) or on their progenitors’ background (‘tradition-directed”’).

Departing from these three types of identity, three types of access to identity maturation are open to the children of immigrants as they grow towards adulthood: the first driven by their parents (‘tradition-directed’), the second driven by their own perceptions (‘inner-directed’) and the third driven by their peers (‘other-directed’). However, we should bear in mind that the formation and negotiation of these three types of identity – beyond referring us to their development dynamics (looking at the family’s past, at the present of the self and at the surrounding’s future) – refer us to a more basic structuring scenario: that formed by the social system of identities which prevails culturally and socially in each country. It is in respect of this system that the personal identities of those who, in one way or another, will have to place themselves, will develop. The greater or lesser ease of integration into it or negotiation of their identity status will depend on the better or worse fit of each personal identity with the socio-cultural system of identities which has currency in each country.

Needless to say, the use of a qualitative methodology will be the best guide in the search for information on each of the above aspects. Otherwise, if we limit the collected information, as was previously pointed out, by asking respondents questions with prescribed answers, we would not be able to appreciate what their state of mind is or how they negotiate the way they wish to be and then to signify this to the members of the society in which they live. Both these are possibilities which are open to us through the non-directive character -or, rather, directed by the informants- of qualitative in-depth interviews.

The aforementioned qualitative study on the adult integration of the children of immigrants in Madrid will now be examined, with the aim of exemplifying in practice the theoretical points of view presented. Identity development driven by the children of immigrants’ peers features very frequently in this study, to such a degree that we can be sure that it is through their peers, rather than their parents, that the children of immigrants absorb, with greater or lesser intensity, the national ties that shape them in early adulthood.

3 Methodology

One of the main characteristics of the study, which should be mentioned from the outset, is that it had the specific aim of analyzing adult identity integration in Madrid for members of the second generation , not adolescent or temporary identities.

The geographical scope of the study was restricted to Madrid solely due to budgetary constraints. Given the high number and variety of origins of the members of the second generation in Madrid, the expectations were that we would be able to find sufficient evidence on the basic characteristics of identity integration in this location.

In contrast, a more detailed explanation is required regarding the decision to focus solely on the adult identity integration of the second generation in the study, excluding any identity formed before our subjects reach adulthood. This decision is based on the fact that the identities of prime interest here are not those of children or adolescents, who are not yet fully fledged citizens of society and whose identities are still forming and developing, but those of adults – that is, persons with a certain degree of autonomy. This group could constitute a new generation in the social and political sense that Ortega y Gasset (2003) chose to give to the term ‘generation’, as opposed to the biological sense. In other words, we wanted to refer to a population segment that could represent a novelty in the way our social structure functions, rather than a purely intellectual challenge for scholars involved in explaining and seeking a solution to the issue of identity.

The focus of this study, therefore, is a group of children of immigrants who have already embarked on the path to independence, thereby constituting a sociological generation incipiently independent of family resources. Specifically, we focus on those children of immigrants who have completed compulsory education and are in the process of making their way in the labour market or undertaking university studies. Indeed, the study opted to restrict the group further by focusing on the offspring of Moroccans, Peruvians, Dominicans and Ecuadorians, a decision taken based on the fact that these nationalities represent the four largest groups of second-generation residents of this age,Footnote 6 which means that there is a higher probability of them having developed, with their peers, shared ideas about the incorporation of their identities in the adult world in Spain. Finally, mindful that self-identification represents a way of finding one’s place within a social system (Isajiw 1997), what we aimed to do in the interviews was to explore the social systems or groups to which those children of immigrants who are in the process of entering adult society aspire to belong. We examined whether they reaffirm their affiliation to groups associated with the country of origin of their parents or whether, leaving behind the shadow of a potential ‘ ethnic identity ’, they identify themselves according to their career plans, the assimilation of Spanish culture, their educational or sporting achievements or other similar factors.

In sum, we have conducted a study that resembles, to some extent, others published on the ethnical identity of immigrant offspring, but which also differs from this previous work in several key aspects. The similarities lie in the fact that we attempt to discover which national identity the group wishes to adopt and what level of importance they ascribe to this identity in the way they organize their life. However, in contrast, it differs in the following ways:

  • we do not work on the assumption that the children of immigrants, by identifying themselves as a national of their parents’ country of origin , are going to reproduce the problems the latter have encountered in their daily lives;

  • our focus is not simply confined to national identities;

  • we do not view identities as (fixed and stable) affiliations from individuals to fixed labels in our social system; and,

  • finally, we focus on identity negotiation processes by examining the identity development of subjects in the sample in order to gauge the situational conditioning factors involved in identification.Footnote 7

Given these purposes, the use of a qualitative methodology was deemed to be appropriate, first because there was insufficient prior knowledge of the subject to be able to create a questionnaire using closed questions, based on reliable indicators and fully quantifiable responses. Second, and more importantly, it allows the gathering of information on identity negotiation in context. Consequently, as part of the information-gathering process, the young men and women who were interviewed were asked to narrate freely how they felt things had gone to date for them and what they intended to do in the future. The expectation was that, in spoken narratives, the subjects would define or identify themselves in one way or another through self-description – as was generally the case – and relate whether or not they had changed their points of view and, if so, why.

The criteria applied in the selection of the sample were as follows.

  • It should include around 50 subjects in total.

  • The sample should comprise young men and women – the children of immigrants – aged between 16 and 25, who were looking towards their future at the time the study was conducted. The reason for this precision in their age is obvious: the children of immigrants under the age of 16 are still too immersed in their family sphere to develop their own identity by virtue of being outside this circle. As far as the group of subjects over the age of 25 was concerned, it was deemed to be too small to have developed common identity self-definitions.Footnote 8

Next, following the criteria applied in qualitative studies, the selection of respondents was diversified according to the socio-descriptive variables that might affect experiences of social incorporation and the way these experiences are interpreted. Specifically, balancing the composition of the group by gender and also by parental origin, as well as according to whether respondents were either full second-generation members or belonged to the 1.5 generation  – children born outside Spain but who moved there before they were 7 years old.

Finally, the point of access from which respondents were entering adult life needed to be taken closely into account (either from the context of their ongoing studies – whether secondary or higher education – or from labour market contexts). With all these considerations in mind, recruitment was carried out using the snow-ball method, diversifying as much as possible the sources of initial contacts.

Before synthesizing the findings of the study, all that remains to add is that the composition of the selected sample, according to the criteria listed above, was as follows:

  • 47 valid interviews were selected for analysis;

  • 26 men and 21 women participated;

  • 14 belonged to the second generation and 33 to the 1.5 generation ;

  • 15 had Ecuadorian, 10 had Dominican, 13 had Moroccan and 9 had Peruvian parents; and

  • 21 were in work, three were unemployed, eight were at university and 16 were still in education (lower-secondary and vocational training).

Having set out the methodological approach adopted in the study, discussion of the findings now follows.

4 Key Findings of the Study

Like other qualitative studies on how the children of immigrants view identity, this one does not depart from previous hypotheses that enable us to order the findings on identity positioning according to the characteristics of greater or lesser suitability for integration . Instead, it reveals the multiple ways in which young people view themselves and their own situations.

In the light of this, the ordering and interpretation criteria for the information gathered should be guided by the methodological hypotheses set out above, stemming from a general theory of social identities – and in particular:

  • the hypotheses referred to on the contextual dependence of the identities formed in the social environment of late modernity;

  • the hypotheses mentioned on the most suitable manifestation of identities in cases where respondents attempt to negotiate identities when describing their trajectories; and

  • hypotheses relating to the specific aspects pertaining to the identity development of children of immigrants at the stage when they can think about becoming independent of the family nucleus.

4.1 The Prevalence of National Self-Identity During the School Stage

As far as the contextualization of identities is concerned, we take into account that the latter constitute a way for individuals to position themselves in a social system that matters to them. Unsurprisingly, in general, the first social system with which the children of immigrants position themselves in terms of identity development, while they are of secondary-school age, is that of the country of origin of their parents. Hence nearly all those interviewed, when narrating the experiences that occurred at secondary-school age, mention the fact that both their peers and their teachers ascribed this national identity to them, as they themselves did. The reason why this occurs with peers is that it seems to be common in Madrid for young people to get together in separate groups based on nationality during break time at and after school. For teachers this is the case because students stand out for them by national group, according to many of the youths in our sample.

However, it is important to note that this identification by teachers according to the students’ nationality is not always well received by the children of immigrants. In this regard, the comments made by a young Moroccan woman – currently studying anthropology at Universidad Complutense de Madrid – on the discriminatory dimension perceived in teachers’ attitudes serve as a reference point:

What does it mean to be discriminated against? It means making you feel that you are different all the time, because the way teachers explain things or address you means that you feel different in one way or another all the time or that you don’t feel like the rest of the class. For example, I remember a teacher started talking about the fact that Ramadan had started and he looked at me and said: ‘Aren’t you going to pray?’ Why did he say this to me? Why did he say this to me in the middle of a lesson? Or when they are going to talk about the veil or whatever? They always ask you and that makes you feel different from the rest in one way or another. Why do they have to ask me and not the white classmate sitting next to me? Why do they ask me? And this makes you feel different from other students and they see you as different too.

In conclusion, it is worth noting that, although the children of immigrants at secondary school usually identify with their parents’ nationality, they do not like others to identify them in the same way. This is undoubtedly the contextual anchor of ethnic identity : among those who share the same nationality it is seen as a positive value of the identity capital they possess but where those who do not share this nationality are concerned, it begins to be seen as a potentially negative factor in personal development.

Self-identification relating to other institutions or social entities – such as the Scouts, groups formed in the CEPIs’Footnote 9 after-school clubs, football or basketball teams etc. – is less common at secondary-school age but is sometimes mentioned. Where it does appear, it is because these young people value it as an important part of their social capital.

4.2 School Outcomes and Relationship with Peers: Key Issues in the Transition from Adolescent to Adult Identities

The situation changes entirely when the conversation of the interviewees moves from memories of adolescence to the future plans and goals they have set themselves as adults. In this instance, they seldom name anything related to their family’s nationality and the position they adopt regarding it. Instead, they refer to institutions associated with entering the labor market, to their internal family space and to the world of consumption, leisure and entertainment. These have now become much more important in terms of interaction than the national origin of their parents. Seen, too, from the perspective of identity capital, it emerges very clearly that, in early adulthood, what matters the most to them are the aspects of this capital related to school qualifications and the recognition and esteem they receive from relationships with their peers. In the former this is because the time has come when receiving recognition as good students – or at least not as bad ones – is very important for the self-identification they tend to present in their narrations. In the latter it is because it would seem that the identity style involved is the aforementioned typically ‘other-directed’.

Specifically, reference to nationalities in the stage following secondary school appears in two different ways: first, from a Moroccan and, second, from several Ecuadorians and Dominicans – although it is worth mentioning that, in a qualitative study of this nature, this does not indicate that these are specific forms of Moroccan and Latin discourse; simply that they are present therein.

The type of discourse shown by the Moroccan respondent, currently a history student at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, is revealed in the following comment:

Coming from North Africa is also a barrier… I don’t think relationships are the same for Latin Americans and Arabs … maybe it is a matter of culture … but, little by little, people understand that you are Spanish, that you were born here and have the culture from here.

The structure of this discourse shows that this young person has a strong sense of self; he tries to judge objectively the disadvantages that certain national identities could entail but does not adopt a conflictive attitude or present himself as a victim. Indeed, quite the opposite is true; he expects to be valued for his qualities and success. The identity problem this points to does not entail integration difficulties for wanting to hold on to his origins, but centers on the demands which the Moroccan student places on himself to prove his worth as a Spanish citizen, despite any discrimination he might suffer from natives.

The second type of discourse is totally different. It is manifested in youth in early adulthood who say that they like to mix with others of their own national origin outside work. Outside work is very important here. In other words, they think about their national identity and identify with it when relaxing or going out socially. However, in less exclusive areas, such as the workplace or standard circulation in public spaces, self-awareness of their foreignness is not a driving force. This is illustrated by the case of an Ecuadorian who had started working at a young age with his father in the family’s butchery business and says he only mixes socially with Ecuadorians. However, at the same time, this youth is trying to attain his secondary-school certificate (ESO) and is aiming to enlist in the Spanish armed forces. As his goal shows, he is far from being against a Spanish identity. In general, we can observe that the nationalistic self-projection of the second generation in leisure contexts but not in other aspects of their lives occurs particularly among youths who set themselves nationalistically neutral goals in the labor market concerning their future as adults, while enjoying an easy circle of friends of similar national origin. This certainly presents a way of holding on to a sense of national identity that does not hinder progress in terms of social integration .

4.3 Self-Image and Negotiation of Identity

From another point of view, we expected that the identity issue of the young people in the sample would reveal itself specifically in those parts of their narratives in which they allude to attempts to defend or justify their ways of being to third parties – i.e., instances in which they have had to negotiate their self-image or identity with these third parties. A review of the narratives proved this to be the case, as several episodes of this nature appeared, although these were neither numerous nor particularly instructive with regard to the adult identity integration of the narrators. As might be expected, they referred to situations in the past or very general situations, mostly associated with the ‘other-directed’ style of identity to which we have been referring.

Three types of allusion to identity negotiations can be observed: identity negotiations in the family sphere and by interviewees in their relationship with interviewers and introspective identity negotiations by the interviewees themselves.

As far as identity negotiations in the family sphere are concerned, the salient point is how the children of immigrants, both male and female, become who they are and gain youthful independence in tension with family customs that inhibit them generationally; a tension that often makes them critical of their parents and national traditions – especially for the women. As they look to the lifestyles of their peers in order to define themselves, they engage with the ‘other-directed’ dynamic of identity, which they gradually make their own. There are also cases in which their specific identity development and negotiation causes them pain, especially concerning their educational failures which may be partly due to their neglecting their parents’ efforts and aspirations.

Cases where interviewees appear to wish to be recognized in a favorable light by the interviewers are interesting, providing the latter with explanations that could highlight their own ways of thinking and being. The answer given when presented with a picture of a young street cleaner at work is paradigmatic in this respect. When asked in the interview ‘What does the image say to you?’ they comment ‘It shows someone who works as a cleaner; if I had to do the same I would, because it is a decent job, but I would aspire to a better job’. In other words, interviewees display socio-economic aspirations of a certain level; they aspire to professional achievements that receive greater recognition than that of cleaners but, on the other hand, they also want to present themselves as people who do not discriminate negatively against others, simply based on the tasks which they carry out. These self-identification perspectives are obviously related to work and social strata horizons rather than to nationalities but, nonetheless, involve looking in the mirror of ideas current in their environment, that is, of ‘other-directed’ criteria.

The same happens with the third type of identity negotiation present in the interviews: namely interviewees’ introspective reflections on how they had decided, in dialogue with themselves, which direction to take and how to behave as they wanted.Footnote 10 In the interviews examined, two aspects emerge: first, the identity options weighed up in such introspective negotiations are guided by the same social references as the identity negotiations carried out with others: that is, in simple terms, by attitudes to work, consumer and leisure activities. Secondly, the references shown in the study only related to national belonging when the interviewees explained how and why they had chosen friends of the same national origin to go out with and spend their free time with – a point to which we referred earlier.

4.4 Children of Immigrants’ Ethnic Identity and Leaving the Family Home

Finally, some brief comments on the third area of interest here – the attitudes manifested by the children of immigrants towards leaving the family home. Two questions arise regarding their identity development in this respect. First, are the children of immigrants concerned with the issue of maintaining the cultural identity of their progenitors? Second, when they look to the future, are they worried that their status as children of immigrants will put obstacles on their chosen career path?

The narratives relating to the first question indicate that the answer is negative, as there was no allusion whatsoever to doubts or intentions over maintaining traditional patterns – or to being agents of multiculturalism . Among the young Moroccan women, the opposite trend was observed – in other words, the intention is to not follow the same path generally taken by women from Morocco, as they do not share the desire to get married, have children early on and dedicate their lives to the domestic sphere.

The response to the question relating to discrimination over their foreign parentage when looking to the future was also negative. There was only one exception, to which we referred earlier – the Moroccan youth who states that the children of Moroccan parents are not treated in the same way as Latin Americans; however, he adds:

Maybe it’s a matter of culture … but, over time, people do understand that you’re Spanish, that you were born here and have the culture from here…

As regards any concerns that discrimination could arise due to the nationality of their parents in their adult future, we need to differentiate, for the purposes of greater accuracy, between those respondents studying at university, those already in work or unemployed, and those who, for various reasons, are still completing their secondary education. The first two groups, university students and those in work, indicated that, in specific contexts in their adult life including relationships with teachers, fellow workers or bosses, far from being worried about discrimination, they had been accepted in such a way that they did not feel they would be discriminated against due to their national parentage in the future. Most interviewees drop this into the conversation quite casually, although there are cases in which it is exaggerated, as if to say that the opposite was expected. A Peruvian speaking about the reception he was given when he started work at a mechanic’s workshop goes so far as to say:

It was great … I’m the new kid and they treat me really well. The moment I started there the first person I met was really … (I don’t know how to say this) … really proper, very cold …you know? But I don’t know, as soon as I started working with him and stuff … he opened up and the ice was broken and he was really nice; now he’s my best friend, my workmate, my friend … when I’m with him I feel really good and when I’m with other friends too … they treat me really well at the company where I am, I get on really well with everyone there.

5 Summary and Conclusions

In sum, during their secondary education, second-generation youth usually start joining groups with peers whose parents have the same nationality of origin –and this indicates the identity that they attribute to themselves – albeit fairly abstractly. However, when they reach the age of leaving home, the social systems through which they identify themselves are the workplace and the education levels. At this stage the aspects touching their parents’ nationality take second place, with school attainments, technical skills, social ability and the consistency of their self-taking first place. What is more, the most successful relations with their peer groups of one or more national origins develop in this direction too, as well as their occasional meetings with institutions other than school.

The change in identity references that can be traced here – when the children of immigrants feel compelled to define themselves in line with the spaces of their adult life – is hardly ever reflected in their narratives as being consciously executed and oriented by introspective or non-introspective identity negotiations, the latter involving deep reflections carried out in conversation with persons close to them. During secondary schooling, events from family life and their status as students, marked by the national origin of their parents, are the prime factors influencing identity formation. However, after compulsory schooling, the emphasis falls on the labor market, economic prospects and personal skills. Moreover, the alternative routes which Côté (1996, 2005) outlines, emerge clearly. Some of the youth will proceed seemingly automatically in their trajectory towards adult identity, which will then be an ‘identity by default’ – i.e., a conventional identity – while others will create for themselves their own way of being, an elective identity that adjusts to their own qualities and the opportunities that present themselves. It is worth noting that the ‘identity by default’ is not nationalist in our second generation but is sometimes an elective identity although, in such instances, owing to the depth of reflection on this point, this choice seems to work with acceptable levels of social integration , as in the case of our Moroccan student.

Finally, in the sample surveyed there were no instances in which the young adults, both male and female and in the process of becoming independent, are concerned about whether they should maintain or will be able to maintain their parents’ national identity  – which predominated during their secondary schooling. There is also no fear that the foreignness of their parents would create problems of discrimination for them, arguably because the attitude they have towards the future when they enter the labor market or university focuses on the relations expected in these fields rather than on anonymous relations in the street or housing market, which is where there are more documented cases of discrimination. In sum, this review of how young adults identify and see themselves after leaving school shows that the majority do not fit badly – in identity terms – into adult environments in Spain. However, it is clear that, thus far, this has not depended solely on them nor will it remain that way if Spanish society were to reject this group in the future.

To conclude, we should now reconsider what the option of privileging negotiations of identity has contributed to the study in its search for an empirical substantiation to its conclusions on the effects of national self-identities for the integration of children of immigrants.

This question was addressed earlier, when we highlighted that the contextual dependence of children of immigrants’ answers on their identity is what raises the most doubts about the value of what they say when asked how they identify themselves. In fact, however, these doubts disappear when the questions focus on negotiations of identity, because these latter provide us with the contexts in which identity is experienced, thus allowing us to gauge the weight which these experiences have in the different behavioral sequences. Together with the inspiration provided by Côté (1996, 2005), we can qualify these insights by adapting them to the different types of social context and situation of personal development in which the negotiations of identity take place.

This focus has, in this way, also allowed us to see how the weight of national self-identities evolves over time – which is particularly interesting in connection with the transition from adolescence to adulthood of the second generation , a time which is particularly susceptible to changes.

In truth, it was possible to consider all this because the study was qualitative. However, it is also true that, because of this, no quantitative figures can be given and it is not possible to argue for any degree of representativeness. The reformulation in terms of quantified relations has not even begun. Nevertheless, the questions related to national self-identification and to identity as social capital appear to have sufficient weight for us to continue seeking new avenues of enquiry such as the one referred to in the study.