Communities and generations/Turkish

This study offers a comprehensive overview of the changes - demographic, social, economic and cultural - that have occurred in Belgium's Turkish and Moroccan populations since their arrival in the 1960s. The data are predominandy taken from the Belgian census of 1991 and from four further surveys conducted between 1992-1996 among Turkish and Moroccan men and women. Particular attention is paid to generation changes, variations in the pattern of community reconstruction, the continued immigration of new members, changes in family formation,and diverging educational and employment paths. Most shifts across generations are consistent to 'segmented assimilation' theory, yet their pace varies widely, depending on the subject or domain considered. Furthermore, substantial differences emerge in the Turkish and Moroccan pattems of adaptation and community reconstruction: the former exhibits stronger local cohesion whereas the latter is characterised by greater fragmentation and heterogeneity.