second-generation immigrants
Definition
Second-generation immigrants refers to individuals born in a host country to immigrant parents, who occupy a distinct social position relative to both the ethnic majority and first-generation migrants. In research on collective psychological ownership, this population has been examined as a minority group whose sense of national ownership develops through different activators than those available to the majority. Specifically, collective control, rather than intimate historical knowledge, emerges as the significant correlate of both territorial and epistemic ownership among this group, suggesting that ownership claims are channeled through active agency. Their ownership claims are associated with perceived rights rather than collective responsibility, indicating an orientation toward gaining legitimate civic participation rather than stewardship. These patterns were documented using panel data from second-generation immigrants in Finland, a culturally homogeneous society with a comparatively recent immigration history.
Sources: Szebeni et al. (2025)
Related Terms
- collective psychological ownership (1 shared article)
- collective epistemic ownership (1 shared article)
- intergroup relations (1 shared article)
- territorial ownership (1 shared article)
Applications
Second-generation Immigrants and Collective Psychological Ownership
For second-generation immigrants, both territorial ownership and epistemic ownership are significantly associated with claiming rights, but neither dimension predicts collective responsibility. Collective investment is the strongest predictor of ownership across both dimensions, while collective control, rather than intimate knowledge, serves as the secondary driver, distinguishing this group's pathway to ownership from that of the ethnic majority.
Sources: Szebeni et al. (2025)
Second-generation Immigrants and Epistemic Ownership
Collective epistemic ownership captures a group's sense of possessing national narratives and symbolic content rather than physical territory. Among second-generation immigrants, intimate knowledge is negatively associated with epistemic ownership, which may reflect limits on the recognition of minority knowledge as legitimate and restricted access to co-authorship of the national narrative.
Sources: Szebeni et al. (2025)
Second-generation Immigrants and Collective Control
Collective control emerges as a significant correlate of both territorial and epistemic ownership specifically within the second-generation immigrant sample, a pattern not replicated among majority Finns. This finding suggests that for minority groups, perceived influence over national matters functions as an explicit aspiration reflecting efforts to gain voice despite marginalisation.
Sources: Szebeni et al. (2025)
