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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Guest editorial

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In a number of western countries we are now seeing a ‘new second generation’ – the children of the migrants who came to Europe and North America in the second half of the 20th century and who are now completing their education and entering the labour market. Many of these migrants came from less-developed countries such as Pakistan, Turkey, North Africa or Mexico as migrant workers. How this new second generation has fared within western educational systems may well prove crucial for the eventual integration and cohesion of western countries. Pessimists have been concerned that this new second generation may be much harder to integrate than the older migrants of European ancestry: cultural differences may make it harder for the new second generation to thrive within western educational systems, and in the current political context, there are particular worries about the incorporation of Muslim groups. In contrast, optimists believe that immigrants tend to be ‘positively selected’ for their ambition and drive and that their high aspirations will lead to educational success for their children and, in turn, to occupational integration. The educational outcomes of the new second generation also provide a challenge to orthodox explanations of educational inequalities in the western academic literature. Can traditional explanations be used exactly as they are to account for ethnic inequalities? Do they need to be broadened in order to apply to the circumstances of the new second generation? Or do we need radically different kinds of explanation? Western literature in the sociology of education has tended to focus on class inequalities in G U E S T E D I T O R I A L