Integration and assimilation of Moroccan immigrants in Israel and the Netherlands

The purpose of this study was to examine the consequences of integration and assimilation of Jewish Moroccans in Israel and Islamic Moroccans in The Netherlands as well as the reactions of the majority group to these immigrants. On the basis of social identity theory and the similarity-attraction hypothesis, we predicted that immigrants who integrate would experience more prejudice and would feel less respected, but would evaluate their ethnicity more positively than immigrants who assimilate. We also predicted that majority members would prefer and show less prejudice towards assimilating immigrants than they would to integrating immigrants. Since Moroccans in Israel share a Jewish background with the dominant group, we expected a more favorable pattern in Israel than in The Netherlands. Respondents were 94 Moroccans in The Netherlands and 97 in Israel, further 86 subjects of the dominant group in The Netherlands and 78 in Israel. The results generally confirm the predictions. Remarkably, whereas majority members in The Netherlands clearly react more positively towards assimilating immigrants than towards integrating immigrants, in Israel it made little difference whether they assimilated or integrated.