A subjective Side of Citizenship: The Case of Turks Descendants in France and Sweden

In countries adhering to ius soli or ius domicili principles immigrants’ descendants are entitled to become members as any other citizen once they naturalize. But citizenship acquisition by itself does neither ensure full access to membership nor a sense of belonging to a nation-state. A subjective dimension of citizenship becomes relevant when studying the consequences of naturalization in terms of membership. However, the lack of studies about individuals’ understandings of citizenship and their condition as citizens avoids a more dynamic debate giving to citizenship a static framework. By turning to citizens’ perceptions a new picture of citizenship is discovered. The present study pays attention to a group that has not hitherto been central in discussions about citizenship, namely immigrants’ descendants, the so-called “second generation”. This group defies the traditional belonging to the nation-state by having attachments to both their parents’ country and their country of birth. How do people understand citizenship and their role as citizens when having a migrant background? This paper contributes to the debate about how are conceptions of citizenship affected when having dual legal attachments. The study analyzes the understanding of citizenship among second generation Turks in Stockholm and Paris who hold dual citizenship based on Survey data and qualitative interviews. This bottom-up approach to citizenship yields insights into how individuals perceive their membership of and their belonging to two states. One important result is that the respondents’ concepts of citizenship are not framed by their Turkish ethnicity but by the specific understanding of citizenship in their country of residence.