Worlds Apart? Public Debates about Islam and Muslims' Views of their Societies of Settlement

This paper sets out to examine, first, public discourses carried by the mass media over Islam and Muslims in four European countries (UK, NL, F, D), and second, the views of different groups of migrants/minorities who are Muslims of their position within their societies of settlement (in the same countries). Here the main question is to examine whether there is a ‘gap’ in the way that liberal democracies talk about their relationships to Muslims and Islam, and the way that these groups experience and live these social relationships in their everyday lives. Bluntly put, are public debates over Islam ‘detached from reality’, when viewed from the concerns and views held by the Muslim populations themselves? Are public debates over Islam primarily ways that liberal democratic societies handle their own dilemmas that crystallize over the issue of Islam rather than linked to efforts to address issues of migrant and minority integration? The range of countries allows to see how Multicultural societies (UK, NL) compare to others (F, D), on debate and migrant/minority experiences. The data sets used on public debates (claims analysis from mass media data over 10 years in 4 countries) and Muslims’ views (survey responses with four groups of Muslims in each country) are original.