CHANGING CONCEPTS AND PRACTICES OF CITIZENSHIP

The present inquiry has two dimensions: first it is concerned with the changing concept of citizenship in the liberal polities with respect to increasing diversity within these societies -with special reference to the impact of immigration on diversity. Second it tries to explore the impact of immigration on the conceptualization of citizenship from the standpoint of individuals. Until recent times individual level analysis has been neglected both in immigration and citizenship studies. This study tries to contribute to the literature by investigating the experiences and perceptions of the individuals as the main actors of immigration and the bearers of citizenship -as an identity and as a legal status.The purpose is to explore the challenges of immigration on the modern concept of citizenship by interpreting the perceptions of individuals. It tries to reveal the ways in which citizenship practices and conceptualizations of second-generationTurkish-Germans support and/or diverge from the theoretical approaches that attempt to explicate the immigration/citizenship problem.