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Choosing Islamic Conservatism:  Muslim Youth in Europe and the UK and the Question of Social Cohesion

Project description

Why conservative Islamic views gain ground

The Islamic networks that have historically embedded themselves in Muslim communities in Europe and the United Kingdom represent the most conservative Islamic knowledge traditions. They promote highly conservative social norms, encourage isolation from mainstream society and, in extreme cases, also endorse jihad. The ERC-funded CICMSC project will explore the reasons these conservative movements remain highly popular amongst second- and third-generation Muslims despite growing efforts of Islamic scholars and institutions actively trying to promote teachings from the classical Islamic scholarly tradition with a focus on today’s social reality. The project will focus on the push and pull factors. It will also test the hypothesis that ‘mosque-dense Muslim-majority neighbourhoods’ are central to ingraining a conservative social Islamic imaginary in each subsequent generation.

Objective

The Islamic networks that historically embedded themselves in Muslim communities within Europe and the UK represent, in theological and methodological terms, most conservative Islamic knowledge traditions, which promote highly conservative social norms, encourage isolation from mainstream society, and in extreme cases also endorse jihad. Despite facing serious competition in recent years from Islamic scholars and institutions that are actively trying to promote teachings from the classical Islamic scholarly tradition, which balances textual loyalty with a focus on contemporary social reality, thereby providing more socially optimal outcomes for young Muslims in the West, the conservative Islamic movements still control the mosque and madrasa (Islamic school) networks and have a visible constituency among second- and third- generation Muslims in the West. Working within theories of institutional persistence and change, and complementing them with a focus on understanding the significance of ethical and moral agency as discussed in recent studies in anthropology of Islam, and taking cues from the growing interest in the role of neighbourhoods in religious socialisation, this project develops a conceptually and methodologically unique approach to understand the stickiness of Islamic conservatism in the West. It has a three-fold focus: (1) studying the survival strategies of the institutional elites, as well as any attempts at internal reform; (2) expanding the existing focus on push factors (childhood socialisation and reactionary religiosity) to also study the pull factors (such as the possible appeal of the ethical and moral agency that these movements are able to inculcate); and (3) testing the hypothesis that ‘mosque-dense Muslim-majority neighbourhoods’ are central to engraining a conservative social Islamic imaginary in each subsequent generation, which through a dense network of bridging ties is spread to Muslim youth across the country.

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Topic(s)

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ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2020-ADG

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Host institution

THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 455 847,00
Address
WELLINGTON SQUARE UNIVERSITY OFFICES
OX1 2JD Oxford
United Kingdom

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Region
South East (England) Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Oxfordshire
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 455 847,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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