Does rural origin affect immigrants' contact with natives? A study of Turks in six European countries

This paper analyses differences in rural and urban origin in visits from natives and the occurrence of interethnic marriages of Turkish immigrants in six European countries. We argue that values and human capital explain the relationship between rural-urban origin and contact with natives. The value-based hypothesis stipulates that differences in contact with natives are due to values and predispositions that correlate with people's rural and urban origin. The human capital hypothesis predicts that variation between rural and urban origin can be ascribed to differences in human capital accumulation. Using the Six Country Immigrant Incorporation Comparative Survey (SCIICS), the results show that Turkish immigrants with a rural origin have fewer visits from natives and are less likely to intermarry. Furthermore, educational attainment, destination country language proficiency, religious identification and identification with the origin culture explain a substantial part of the rural origin effect. However, also when accounting for values and human capital, we find a significant direct effect of rural origin, suggesting that rural and urban immigrants build social relations differently.