Immigrants’ Religious Transmission in Southern Europe: Reaction or Assimilation? Evidence from Italy

Francesco Molteni () and Iraklis Dimitriadis
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Francesco Molteni: Università degli Studi di Milano
Iraklis Dimitriadis: Università degli Studi di Milano

Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2021, vol. 22, issue 4, No 15, 1485-1504

Abstract: Abstract In recent decades, scholars have been increasingly interested in analysing immigrants’ religiosity in Europe. In this article, we provide evidence about how the patterns of religious transmission are shaped by religious characteristics of both the origin and receiving contexts. We do so by focusing on Italy, which is both an almost homogeneously Catholic country and a fairly recent immigration destination, and by analysing three different dimensions of religiosity: service attendance, prayer and importance of religion. By relying on the “Social conditions and integration of foreign citizens” survey (ISTAT, 2011–2012), we fill an important theoretical and geographical gap by analysing differences in religiosity between parents and children. We claim that immigrant groups who share many characteristics with the natives tend to assimilate by adopting the same patterns of transmission (for example, Romanians in Italy). In contrast, immigrants who come from very different religious contexts, such as the Muslim Moroccan group, strongly react to this diversity by emphasising the transmission of their own religiosity. If, instead, immigrants come from a very secular country, such as Albania, they also tend to replicate this feature in the receiving countries, thus progressively weakening their religiosity and also their denominational differences. Overall, it is the interplay between origin and destination context which matters the most in shaping the patterns of religious transmission.

Keywords: Immigration; Religiosity; Religious transmission; Italy; Assimilation; Reaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s12134-021-00815-3

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