Contextualising the Socialisation of Muslim Minorities within Parental Upbringing Values in the Netherlands The Case of Moroccan-Dutch

The objective of the present review article is to position the role of parents from Muslim backgrounds in shaping the participation and socialisation of their children in Dutch society. It particularly seeks to contextualise the topic among Moroccan-Dutch parents from a cultural perspective by discussing gender issues, religiosity, identity and parental upbringing. The review begins by providing a context on Moroccan-Dutch migration history, religious and cultural background, and socio-economic status. It aims to explore the relationship between the transmission of parental upbringing and the socialisation of children by discussing the representation of Muslims in the media, the portrayal of Muslim women in the integration discourse, markers of identity and sense of belonging, and the impact of parental upbringing values.


Introduction
After half a century since 'guest workers' from Morocco came to the Netherlands, the cultural and socio-economic position of their descendants is still a hotly debated issue. Religious and cultural differences are often discussed as 'barriers' to integration, and gender inequalities as incompatible with liberal values (Roggeband and Vliegenthart, 2007;Beek and Fleischmann, 2019). This review is based on the generally accepted notion that the education, participation and socialisation of children in society is a process that starts at home. It seeks to contextualise the important role played by parental upbringing values within Muslim minorities in informing the interaction and socialisation of children in Dutch society. It particularly aims to highlight the role of Moroccan-Dutch parents in the transmission of religious and gender values. The objective is to explore the relationship between parents' upbringing and children's integration, and the impact this may have on shaping their identity, socialisation and sense of belonging in Dutch society. The reason for my interest in attempting to understand and observe the role of Moroccan-Dutch parents has grown as a result of two observations. I have noticed that children -and female children, in particular -of Moroccan migrant residents in European countries are frequently sent to Morocco to be raised by grandmothers or other family relatives. These impressions have been reinforced by research visits to Europe, including the Netherlands where I have met Moroccan-Dutch people who also sought to send their daughters 'back' to 'lblad' (the 'homeland') in order to ensure that they inculcate appropriate sociocultural values. At the same time, although these parents aim to send their children to Morocco, other Moroccans who are born and raised in Morocco yearn to send their children to Western countries in order to guarantee a 'better future' for them. This paradox raises questions about the rationality and the legitimate rights of parents to make such choices about the transmission of values to their children. To what and for what parents are willing to send their children 'back'? And what are the cultural, social and economic conditions they have experienced in Dutch society that have motivated them to take such decisions? For these reasons, this review chooses to approach the topic from a cultural perspective, although questioning discrimination circumstances and the socio-economic situation of Moroccan-Dutch citizens also remain at the heart of the problematic.
The main objective of this review is, therefore, to discuss the important role of Moroccan-Dutch parental upbringing values in shaping children's socialisation. The article provides a context for Moroccan-Dutch circumstances by briefly introducing their migration history, their religious and cultural background and their socio-economic status. It attempts to consider the topic in association with discussions about the representation of Muslims in the media, the portrayal of Muslim women in the integration discourse, markers of identity and sense of belonging, and the impact of parental upbringing values. Each of these issues is related to the main research objective, which is to observe the position of Moroccan-Dutch parents in informing the involvement, participation and socialisation of their children. This will be guided by the following sub-issues: 1.
How are Muslims in general, and Dutch Muslims in particular, represented in the media? 2. How are gender-related issues and Muslim women approached in the integration debate on Muslim minorities in the Netherlands? 3. How do religious and national identifications influence the sense Moroccan-Dutch have of belonging to Dutch society? 4. How has the parent-child relationship been addressed in connection with the integration question? How do Moroccan-Dutch parents influence their children's attitudes and choices? 2

Moroccan-Dutch Background
The Netherlands started to recruit and receive Muslim 'guest workers' from Turkey and Morocco in the 1960s-1970s, and the majority of these workers had few educational qualifications (Tesser and Dronkers, 2007;Voas and Fleischmann, 2012). Moroccan migrant men originate from rural areas, particularly the Rif region in northern Morocco. Some of these workers opted to return to their country while others were joined by their wives and children through the family reunification policy. Although living a segregated life, both migrants and the receiving Dutch society did not recognise any pressing need for integration (ter Avest and van Wingerden, 2016). With successive generations born in the Netherlands and preferences for partners from the country of origin, recent statistics indicate that Moroccan-Dutch people are the second largest minority group; they number 402,492, with 94% identifying as Muslim and 5% as non-religious. They constitute 2.3% of the Dutch population, which is estimated to be more than 17 million (cbs, 2016). Moroccan-Dutch residents demonstrate a higher degree of religiosity (Van Tubergen, 2007), and their offspring are expected to marry within their own religious group (cbs, 2012). In the second generation, headscarf wearing is on the rise among young and highly educated Moroccan women, with an increase from 64% in 2006 to 78% in 2015 (cbs, 2016).
Muslims represent 6% of the Dutch population (cbs, 2016), and are generally speaking of a rather low socio-economic status mainly associated with negative attributes (Foner and Alba, 2008). In 1998, statistics showed that 47% of those dependent on state welfare were immigrants and, among non-Western immigrants, 20% were dependent on welfare, which represents ten times the rate of reliance on welfare among native Dutch (Joppke, 2007). This demand on the social security system was confirmed in report by the Social Cultural Planning Office (scp) in 2009, which refers mainly to the first generation (scp, 2009). This low socio-economic status can be partly explained by disadvantage migrants face in employment. Dirk Witteveen and Richard Alba (2017) have shown that second-generation Moroccan and Turkish migrants continue to be discriminated against in the Dutch labour market. Besides being represented as the most disadvantaged and stigmatised migrant group, Moroccan-Dutch citizens also have difficulty in communicating in Dutch and consequently have lower levels of education, particularly among the first generation; the second generation are better integrated with respect to language and education (cbs, 2012). And according to Mérove Gijsberts and Jaco Dagevos (2009), the second generation are increasingly entering higher education.
Thus, a combination of migration history, rural origins, demographic growth, low educational attainment and labour market discrimination explains the present disadvantaged socio-economic situation of first-and second-generation migrants in the Netherlands. More research needs to be carried out among the third generation to provide information about the transformations that may have developed over time across the three generations. The following section considers how Islam and Dutch Muslims are represented in the media, and observes the effects this may have on their involvement and socialisation in Dutch society.

Media Representation of Muslims
During the last two decades, the perception of Islam in the Western media has become associated with migration and religious fundamentalism, Islam being depicted as a violent religion (Ahmed and Matthes, 2017). A number of studies have examined the negative representation of Islam and Muslims in Western media (Said, 1997;Richardson, 2004;Poole, 2009;Petley and Richardson, 2011). According to these studies, the Islam-related topics covered in the news predominantly refer to extremism, criminality, cultural differences and gender inequality and point to Islam as a 'threat' to security and liberal values. The media has a significant role in influencing and manipulating public opinion (van Dijk, 2015). The media -and political debate more generally -have negatively influenced the dominant discourse about citizens with a migrant and Muslim background. Conflicts and tensions between minorities and the majority society have always been present in the West, but they have become more pronounced since the events of September 11, 2001. More specifically, the murder of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh in 2004 by a Muslim extremist has created a negative and suspicious climate about Islam and Muslims in the Netherlands (Pels and Ruyter, 2012). The filmmaker had produced a film that condemns the treatment and oppression of Muslim women, which generated the 'threat' of Islam discourse in the media (Morin, 2009). A few studies have been carried out to explore the representation of Islam and Muslims in the Dutch media (ter Wal, 2004;d'Haenens and Bink, 2006;van Drunen, 2014). They have tackled incidents related to terrorism, violence and criminality. Events such as 9/11 have deviated the debate about Islam in general to the controversial relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and integration (ter Wal, 2004). Leen d 'Haenens and Susan Bink (2006)  Attention to the question of migration and integration has increased in Dutch political and media discourse since 2001 as Islam has come to be regarded as a threat to Dutch liberal values and a barrier to the integration of Muslims -the ideology promoted by right-wing parties (Roggeband and Vliegenthart, 2007). As a result, the Dutch media discourse depicts Muslims as negative, dangerous, violent, suspect and a threat to Dutch values. This is likely to reinforce solidarity among Muslim minorities and generate tendencies towards hatred and prejudice against them. Furthermore, unfavourable portrayals of Islam may have a negative influence on attitudes to and interactions with Dutch Muslims. The next section will explore the depiction of Muslims in the integration debate, and explain the shift to gender issues in approaching Muslim Dutch.

Gender-Related Issues and Muslim Women in Dutch Discourse
It has been demonstrated that Islam is represented in Western media as hostile and antipathetic towards women. Honour-based violence, genital mutilation, Chafai Journal of Muslims in Europe 10 (2021) 3-21 forced marriage and dress code issues are some examples of social and sexual conservatism that are practised in the name of Islam. Other issues such as radicalisation, face veiling, fundamentalist mosque education and transnational marriage have also been controversies that have contributed to reinforcing a negative image of Islam within the public discourse in the Netherlands. This has been particularly true of the widespread belief that women are subjected to religious oppression and submission in Islam. This may be the reason why gender has become a crucial issue in integration policies (Roggeband and Verloo, 2007), and these issues may well have contributed to diverting the integration debate in the Netherlands.
In fact, debates about Muslim minorities in the Netherlands have shifted from tackling social problems such as access to employment, levels of criminality and the failure of the politics of multiculturalism, to focusing on gender equality and portraying Muslim women as being at the centre of emancipation and integration policies (Roggeband and Verloo, 2007;Prins and Saharso, 2008;van Den Berg and Schinkel, 2009;Kofman, Saharso, and Vacchelli, 2013). The Committee for Participation of Women of Ethnic Minority Groups (PaVEM in Prins and Saharso 2008) has represented Muslim women by referring to their role as wives and mothers having a 'civilising' impact on their family and community (Prins and Saharso, 2008). The idea of 'saving' Muslim women from an 'oppressive' culture, and of focusing on their role as 'poorly educated' mothers whose parenting practices may not be appropriate for ensuring the integration of their children in Dutch society has provided the rationale for government interventions in integration policy (Kofman, Saharso and Vacchelli, 2013). However, these authors have emphasised that, as long as discourses are culturalised by concentrating on Islam and Muslim women, the socio-economic aspect of integration remains on the margins.
Thus, Muslim women migrants have been represented as victims, presenting both a problem and a solution for the integration and emancipation of Muslim communities. Such negative portrayals may generally have an adverse effect on the participation and collaboration of migrant women, and on government objectives (Roggeband and Verloo, 2007). In addition, the question has rarely been of how and to what degree these judgements may have contributed to the reconstruction of religious and identity boundaries in the education of children, and how it may have affected feelings of inclusion in or exclusion from the majority society. Although some studies have criticised approaching the issue by addressing the emancipation of Muslim women, they do not appear to have considered the autonomous role of the home or the independent agency of mothers in shaping and facilitating the acculturation of future generations. Mothers can be positively positioned if they are given a voice as confident participants and agents of change to assist future generations in fostering satisfactory family relationships alongside constructive participation in society.
This interest in the integration of Muslim immigrants has been considered with regard to Muslim women and gender equality in Islam in a number of relevant studies of these issues. Some have focused on the headscarf controversy to explore the meaning of wearing a headscarf in relation to the question of the interrelations between identity and gender roles and relations (Koyuncu-Lorasdagi, 2009Taha, 2010;Hoekstra and Verkuyten, 2015;Brunig and Fleischmann, 2015). Other research has explored marriage and family relations by addressing issues related to honour codes, gender differences and honour-based violence, such as honour killing and forced marriage (Cihangir, 2012;Phillips, 2012;Yurdakul and Korteweg, 2013). Studies investigating cultural differences and cultural assimilation among immigrants and majority members have observed that Moroccan-and Turkish-Dutch hold the most conservative attitudes regarding family, marital and sexuality values (Arends-Tóth and van de Vijver, 2009;Kalmijn and Kraaykamp, 2018). Thus, less support for liberal sexual values is associated with stronger levels of religiosity and a weaker sense of national belonging (Eskelinen and Verkuyten, 2018). Progressive values are claimed to be against the religious rules that Muslims are committed to following.
For these reasons, some studies have particularly considered how common are transnational marriages involving Turkish-and Moroccan-Dutch, and have related adult children's choice of marriage partners to strong parental influence (de Valk and Liefbroer, 2007). In fact, Muslim minorities rarely marry out of their religion or ethnic group (Lucassen and Laarman, 2009). However, social mixing with 'non co-ethnic networks' does influence Turkish and Moroccan second-generation choices of marriage or cohabitation partners from outside the ethnic group (Huschek, de Valk, and Liefbroer, 2011). A more recent study has revealed that policy makers and researchers have assumed that partner choice is connected with the integration of minorities in Dutch society (Sterckx, 2015). To conclude, research on ethnic intermarriage has suggested that family relations and conservative values (Huijnk, Verkuyten, and Coenders, 2010), parental influence (de Valk and Liefbroer, 2007), insufficient integration (Sterckx, 2015), rural origins and religiosity (Carol, Ersanilli, and Wagner, 2014) limit the potential for transnational marriages and hinder the integration of Dutch Muslims. The next section attempts to look at the question of identity in relation to integration, and examine whether and how markers of identity have an impact on the sense of belonging among Moroccan-Dutch.

Identity and Sense of Belonging
Media and political debates and academic research have raised the question of Muslims' participation and integration in the Netherlands in relation to a number of controversial issues. Identity is one of these concerns. The identification with a community, religion or a nation emanates from the need for a sense of belonging and having a comfort zone. This article suggests Bauman's argument (2001Bauman's argument ( , 2011) that the question of identity is 'liquid' in modern society, explaining that, as perceptions of life are in constant transformation, identity is created and acquired rather than given or inherited.
Studies have been interested in investigating the relationship between migrants' ethnic, religious and national identities, attitudes and practices and the manifestation of their integration in society. Recent investigations have explored the importance of religion in forging minorities' identity and sense of belonging (Fleischmann and Phalet, 2018;Maliepaard and Verkuyten, 2018). Intergenerational differences among Moroccan-and Turkish-Dutch have revealed that the second generation are less involved in ethnic and religious practices, and therefore have weaker ethnic and religious identities and adhere less to their ethnic and Muslim origins (Phalet, Gijsberts, and Hagendoorn, 2008;Maliepaard, Lubbers, and Gijsberts, 2010). A more recent study has confirmed that the second generation of Moroccan-and Turkish-Dutch are more integrated than the first (Beek and Fleischmann, 2019).
With regard to religious change, the prediction that Muslims in Europe would experience secularisation and a decrease of religiosity has been highlighted by some studies (van Tubergen, 2006;Voas and Fleischmann, 2012;Fadil, 2017). In particular, the increase or decline in religiosity among Dutch Muslims has contradicted this expectation. David Voas and Fenella Fleischmann (2012), for example, have stated that interest in Islam and strong religious affiliation in the second generation correlates not with a lower level of education but rather with higher qualifications. Frank van Tubergen (2007) has revealed that religiosity increases with the length of time lived in the Netherlands and that social integration has a negative impact on immigrants' religious commitment. Similarly, Konstanze Jacob and Frank Kalter (2013) have observed an increase in religiosity among Muslim families in four European countries, including the Netherlands, in contrast to Christian families, whose religiosity diminishes over generations. Studies have thus demonstrated a high level of religious involvement and an increase in religiosity, which indicates a strong religious identification among the second generation.
National identification has been examined in contrast to religious identification. A recent study about Muslim youth has demonstrated that national identification is low within minorities and lowest among Muslims (Fleischmann and Phalet, 2018). Other research has confirmed that young Muslim adults regard themselves as not connected to Dutch society (Visser-Vogel et al., 2018). High levels of religious identification and an increase in religiosity among, for example, Turkish-Dutch are consequences of second-generation religious socialisation within families and communities (Fleischmann and Phalet, 2012). This increased religious and ethnic (Turkish/Moroccan) identification has been negatively associated with Dutch identification (Verkuyten and Yildiz, 2007;Verkuyten, Thijs, and Stevens, 2012). More specifically, research about Moroccan-Dutch has shown that having a stronger Moroccan Islamic identity is associated with having less support from and contact with mainstream Dutch (Azghari, van de Vijver, and Hooghiemstra, 2017).
These questions of identity and identification with ethnic, religious or national entities are quite complex. Although it is clear from the above studies that religious (Muslim) identity may exclude national (Dutch) identity, it remains difficult to trace boundaries of belonging and relate them to either religious or national commitment. The majority of the cited research has confirmed that Dutch Muslims in general, and Moroccan-Dutch in particular, have a strong sense of religious belonging; the more they are associated with and devoted to their ethnic group and Islamic doctrine, the less they identify with and are committed to Dutch culture. This implies that there are conflicts between increased religiosity and social integration -the more religious you are, the less integrated you will become -suggesting that religion impedes Muslims' association with Dutch culture. Thus, identity should not be regarded as a static inherited status but rather should be acquired, (re)constructed and negotiated in the culture(s), values and relationships to which individuals are exposed. The following section will address the parent-child relationship in connection with upbringing values and the question of integration.

Parental Upbringing Values: Good Family Ties or Children's Integration?
A considerable amount of research has explored the parent-child relationship and compared family ties and parenting problems among members of ethnic minorities and native Dutch. Intergenerational differences related to family solidarity, connectedness and conflict have been also investigated. Although less traditional values and weaker ties are expected from the second generation, intergenerational family solidarity has been strongly supported by the first generation of Moroccan-and Turkish-Dutch (Arends-Tóth and van de Chafai Journal of Muslims in Europe 10 (2021) 3-21 Vijver, 2008; Merz et al., 2009). This solidarity has confirmed these groups' support for children's filial obligation towards their elderly parents (de Valk and Schans, 2008;Schans and Komter, 2010). These relations of reliance and compromise between parents and their children may have a negative effect on children's independence. Annemarie Huiberts and her colleagues (2006) have examined the connectedness of Moroccan and Dutch adolescents with their parents through concepts of authority and autonomy. They have affirmed that Moroccan adolescents are likely to have less freedom in decision-making than Dutch adolescents, which explains, for example, parental influence on their children's choice of partner. Parent-child relations have also been discussed by considering the relationships between parenting problems and acculturation (Stevens et al., 2007;Phalet and Schonpflug, 2001). Gonneke Stevens and her colleagues (2007) have shown that, among Moroccan-Dutch, more conflict is expected between parents and their daughters when the girls are less attached to Moroccan culture. This implies that openness to Dutch culture is likely to increase tensions between parents and their children. While native Dutch parents regard their children's personality as the most important cause of parenting problems, Moroccan-Dutch parents blame low socio-economic status, the fact of living in two different cultures, and the adverse impact of peers and the media (with regard to alcohol use and sexual relationships) for the troubles they face (van Mourik et al., 2016). Here, cultural differences and socio-economic disadvantage are held responsible for the parent-child conflicts among Moroccan-Dutch families. However, a recent study indicates that cultural assimilation is associated more with social mixing and not necessarily with socio-economic success (Kalmijn and Kraaykamp, 2018).
The question that has primarily been discussed in relation to this sociocultural integration when referring to the role of parents is whether the integration of children into Dutch society has an impact on their family relationships and attitudes. Recent research has explored the impact of cultural and social integration on intergenerational relations among Moroccan-and Turkish-Dutch (Kalmijn, 2019). Results have demonstrated that children who hold more to liberal values and attitudes have frequent contact with native Dutch and significant educational achievements. However, this may have a negative influence on their family ties, resulting in conflict between parents and their children. Previous research has surveyed intergenerational religious transmission among migrants by considering in particular the impact of educational achievement and social contact with Dutch friends on parental religious transmission (Maliepaard and Lubbers, 2013). It concluded that young Muslims with higher levels of education are not necessarily less religious.
Likewise, a study carried out in four countries, including the Netherlands, found no relation between educational achievement and religiosity among second-generation Turkish Muslim migrants (Fleischmann and Phalet, 2012). Thus, the integration or socialisation of Dutch Muslims has not been automatically related to lower levels of religiosity, higher educational qualifications or socio-economic success.
Few studies; however, have tackled the effect of the role of the upbringing provided by parents on the involvement, socialisation and sense of belonging of children in Dutch society. Maykel Verkuyten, Jochem Thijs and Gonneke Stevens (2012) have investigated the relationship between various markers of identity of Moroccan-Dutch Muslim children and their parents. They found that the Muslim identification of parents affects children's sense of national belonging: the more parents identify as Muslims, the less their children (early adolescents) acquire a sense of national belonging. Nevertheless, a study carried out in Germany has confirmed that, although religious parenting is related to children's religiosity and identification with the heritage culture, a rise in social status stimulates openness and a positive attitude on the part of parents and children towards the members of the majority society (Spiegler, Gungor, and Leyendecker, 2016).
On the basis of this research, we may therefore assume that there is an influential relationship between the role of parents and the socialisation of their children. Whether the Muslim identification of Moroccan-Dutch parents has a negative impact on children's involvement and participation in Dutch society, or whether the positive socialisation of children with the majority society has an unfavourable effect on their family relationships, is not the nub of the issue. Rather, it is the matter of the combination of a healthy parent-child relationship in the family with the efforts made by Dutch society. Future research is recommended to explore in more detail how the role of parental upbringing values shapes the identity and informs the participation, socialisation and sense of belonging of third-generation children.

Discussion
This review aims to position the role of Moroccan-Dutch parents in shaping the socialisation of their children within the question of integration. Gender, identity, religiosity and parental upbringing have been observed to contextualise the topic from a cultural perspective. According to research, migration history, low educational attainment and discrimination in the labour market contribute to the current socio-economic disadvantage of Moroccan-Dutch citizens. The image of Islam and Muslims in the Dutch media is not positive, and religious principles are depicted as incompatible with and a 'threat' to Dutch progressive values. In the integration debate, Muslim minorities have been approached by focusing on gender-related issues in Islam and addressing the responsibility of Muslim women in the family. Religion is depicted as having a strong importance in forging the individual and collective identity of Moroccan-Dutch people, and a high level of religiosity is assumed to hinder their social integration. A strong religious identity is associated with a low national identification, which paves the way for less contact, interaction and support from native Dutch. Upbringing values, particularly the religious transmission by parents, are deemed to have an influence on the children's sense of national identity, and their socio-cultural integration seems to create tensions within parent-child relationships. This discussion, therefore, seeks to focus on the main research question by considering the fact that upbringing beliefs and values start at home and morals are mainly regarded as religiously based, so the socio-economic dimension should not be relegated to the margins. This review attempts to argue that the beliefs, morals and values instilled, constructed and (re)produced in children start at home with parental upbringing, particularly by mothers. Trees Pels (2000) reveals that, even after migration, Moroccan mothers remain the essential authority within the family. It is often thought that parents have an influence on their children's religious socialisation, and mothers in Islam are considered the origin of religious transmission since childcare is deemed to be a female duty. It has been proved that highly religious parents within Muslim minorities are more successful in transmitting religious values to their children than native and non-Muslim migrants (de Hoon and van Tubergen, 2014). Besides, Moroccan parents tend to choose to give their children a traditional religious upbringing in reaction to the challenges of their new environment (Pels and de Haan, 2007;de Haan, 2011). Threatened by the secular environment of the Netherlands, families use religion to reinforce notions of obedience and loyalty, creating a relationship of parent-child dependence. This family control is likely to allow children less freedom in their everyday life, and may drive them to make decisions out of obligation to demonstrate obedience to parents.
The second argument highlights that Muslims in general regard 'morals' as essentially religious. We thus predict that the problematic does not lie in religious and cultural differences, but in the fact that upbringing values are likely to be presented as 'moral' religious norms that exclude the validity of any non-religious principles. In other words, parental religious transmission may consider introducing its principles by presenting Dutch values as morally different although not necessarily in conflict with religious beliefs. That is why Moroccan-Dutch parents are less supportive of liberal values, and their way of bringing up their children seems to be at odds with the values of Dutch society, as previous studies have demonstrated. Research has considered the fact that, on the one hand, Muslim children who adhere to liberal values have more contact with native Dutch, which has conflicting effects on family relationships, while, on the other, those who are more religious and comply with conservative values have less contact with the majority society, which has a negative impact on their participation and integration. This implies that Moroccan-Dutch families stand in a conflicted position between their children and Dutch society. And this may influence children's cultural and socio-economic integration, and as a result may impinge on their sense of national belonging.
With regard to the socio-economic dimension, it has been suggested by some research that it is not the only decisive factor in cultural integration. However, the economic aspect remains crucial if Moroccan-Dutch people are to have more social contact through participation in education and the workplace. For example, Westerners who live in Morocco for a shorter or longer period of time generally belong to a privileged social class and are labelled expats rather than immigrants. They live together in their communities and speak their own languages and in no circumstances are they criticised for not speaking Arabic or not mixing with Moroccans. On the other hand, African immigrants who adopt Morocco as a temporary stop-over before moving to Europe are regarded as a troublesome and rejected group. And even though these immigrants attempt to speak Arabic and women among them consider the use of a headscarf, their impoverished situation is considered a 'threat' to native Moroccans. Comparing this situation to the Dutch context, we attempt to argue that Moroccan-Dutch citizens are generally associated with problematic issues and are blamed for failing to integrate. However, these assertions are based not only on the fact that they are Muslims but also on their being labelled as belonging to underprivileged socio-economic class.
In conclusion, we ask whether religious and cultural differences would matter in the integration debate if Moroccan-Dutch people belonged to empowered and privileged social classes. We anticipate that Moroccan-Dutch citizens may experience a double marginalisation, on the one hand, because of their cultural and religious background and, on the other, as a result of their socioeconomic situation. We therefore suggest that the issue of integration can be interpreted from a social class perspective rather than as a merely 'Muslim question' . In fact, Moroccan-Dutch who live in mixed ethnic and native Dutch neighbourhoods, attend public mixed schools, have a superior education, are employed in better jobs, socialise with native Dutch friends or live with a Dutch spouse/partner are likely to have well educated and less religious parents. As a result, the impact of parental upbringing values remains essentially connected Chafai Journal of Muslims in Europe 10 (2021) 3-21 to the educational, religious and socio-economic level of Moroccan-Dutch families -issues that future research is invited to investigate among the third generation.