Page - 64 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Heinz Bonfadelli | Media Use of Ethnic Minority Youth 64 stressed aspects like “active media use”, “self-socialization” or the dissolution of traditional identity concepts. An important methodological objective of the project was to develop an instrument to gather quantitative as well as qualitative data concerning the role and functions of traditional media (print and electronic) and new media (computer and internet) for children and youths of immigrant backgrounds. In addition, a special focus of the qualitative research was the involvement of visual data in the research process. Furthermore, the project’s aim was to accumulate knowledge based on empirical data for the first time in Switzerland about the complex relationship between identity-formation processes and media use in the lives of young people of migrant background. The research findings demonstrate differences in media habits between young people of Swiss background and those from a migrant background. But besides ethnicity, we observed even greater differences in various areas of media consumption concerning factors like personal level of education, social status of the family, or gender. As a consequence, a complex multifactor model is needed to fully understand the use and effects of media in the lives of young people. Based on empirical data, the project attempts to sensitize social science research in Switzerland for the issue of ‘migration and media’ and to establish a network of experts for media and migration in the context of our two international workshops. In particular, the results of the quantitative study stress differences between migrant and Swiss young people and should give school teachers a better understanding of the media behavior of their pupils in order to prepare the ground for developing specific courses of action in schools or for measures directed towards families to provide better equal opportunities to both groups. Together with the results of the qualitative investigation, the ways media use and consumption are related to the identity-formation processes of youths from an immigrant background have become manifest. The project demonstrates manifold influences of the media on migrants who live in a state between integration into a new socio-cultural environment, bonding relations to their old diaspora communities, and the conflicting demands of bridging these different cultures. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to find new perspectives for successful integration. The concept of hybrid identity, which integrates “here” and “there” in the construction of identities, provides new impulses for the politics of immigrant integration. It accepts that integration is not a process of fundamental change of identity – which, in fact, would be a process of alienation. In contrast to conservative approaches, hybrid identities should be interpreted as positive resources for the development of a particular position or attitude in a multicultural society.