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 paper contributes to scholarly debates on the factors shaping institutional trust in immigrant populations, specifically focusing on African second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands. Existing literature highlighted the role of pre-migratory experiences and political context in countries of origin on immigrants' political behaviour in receiving countries; however, profound understanding on how these processes unfold among second generations is still limited and largely stems from quantitative research designs. Drawing on 10 in-depth qualitative interviews, this study examines how second generations living in Rotterdam interpret political instability in their parents' country of origin, as well at their own experienced with political system in the Netherlands and how these interpretations shape their trust in Dutch institutions. Results show that the institutional trust of Dutch-African second generations is predominantly articulated in terms of institutional functioning and reliability, and rarely extends to the dimensions of fairness, transparency, and representation. This constraint is often grounded in personal experiences of discrimination with institutions. At the same time, familial political socialisation enables the transmission of comparative frames that encourage a conditional 'trust bonus' in the efficiency of Dutch institutions, based on perceived contrasts with institutional dysfunctionality in the parental countries of origin. The paper offers rich qualitative empirical evidence supporting the explanatory value of experiential understanding to institutional trust, by highlighting the dynamic, three-way interaction between transnationally mediated political socialisation, intergenerational transmissions of trust, and experiences in the receiving society. It also contributes to the theoretical broader debates on intergenerational (mis)alignments in immigrant populations and the concepts of belonging and citizenship among second-generation immigrants.