Please, Don’t Blame Us. It Is Possible to Be Both Muslim and a Good Citizen in a Catholic Country

The way in which immigrants’ cultural identities change over time and under the influence of the larger society, as do the characteristics of the relationship between them, are generally crucial issues in the study of second generations’ integration process. For children of immigrants rejoining their parents who emigrated before them, this process is more complex because it overlaps the larger development task of identity formation, which started in their home countries and then continued in the receiving society. Outcomes of this process mirror the various possible acculturation attitudes. Adolescents and young people can choose among various options: if they don’t solve the cultural identity issues that they face, they may exhibit identity diffusion (Marcia 1994). They acquire within the family the adaptive patterns of behaviour, personal characteristics, values, and social responses expected of them in their heritage culture. This is why even the issues of religiousness, religious belonging and the way of being religious need to meet at the crossroads of various sociological (and psychological) disciplines. Indeed, as Berry et al. (2006) have demonstrated, there is clearly evidence of the importance of religion in how immigrants engage in both their intercultural relations and their integration paths. In this framework, the chapter will discuss whether the second generation of Muslims in Italy experiences secularisation (in the sense of a decline in the importance and impact of religion) or rather religious revival (in the sense of a reinvention or reinvigoration of religious traditions in the migration context) or more, ie, radicalization attitudes. To this end, the contribution – thanks to 80 qualitative interviews collected in various Italian cities - examines religious attitudes (e.g. preference for religious homogamy) and behaviours (e.g., praying) as critical dependent variables. The interviews will be analysed taking into account that there are many possible patterns in the relationship with religion, with variations that depend on three sets of factors: (a) Personal and demographic factors (e.g. gender, age, length of residence); b) Factors that are external to individuals and their communities (inclusion paths, socio-economic insertion, policies towards diversity in the society); and c) Differences between immigrant groups and society at large (such as differences in values).