INTRODUCTION In the autumn of 2018, we asked 50 young, mostly well-educated Muslims about their subjectivity and their relationship to the other. The objective was to explore these experiences and thereby lead us to an understanding of the internal worlds and unconscious dynamics in interactions with the social Turkish as well as German environment. One of the participants, a young lady, described her subjective position that became more and more determined by the Germans’ resentments. So, the pendulum swung back in the direction of the Turkish identification:

I still find it extremely outrageous how other (German) people around me have taken the liberty to tell me who or what I am, where my roots lie and where I belong. Ultimately, such experiences have led me to distance myself more and more from the ‘I-am-German part’. A few years ago, I would have said I am German-Turkish. Today I would rather say I am Turkish-German. So, I would put Turkish before German, because I don't experience in Turkey what I have experienced here.

This quote demonstrates the dynamic between the subject and the other, showing how the participant has to find her way to personal identity. To examine these processes, we refer to Lacan's scheme L. In this scheme, we find a strong connection between the big Other and the subject of the unconscious, that is, the part of the subject being unconscious (Lacan, 1991a, pp. 142 − 3, 1991b, p. 243; Evans, 2006, pp. 173, 198). Figure 1 shows Lacan's L-Scheme.

L-Scheme (cf. Lacan, 1991a, pp.142–3, 1991b, p. 243) From this perspective, the subject is decentred, that is, it encompasses all four corners of the L-scheme: the subject of the unconscious (S), the big Other (A), the imaginary ego (a) and its mirror image, the other (a’). There are two vectors: the first vector is the symbolic connection between the big Other (A), for example, the super-ego, the laws, the structure of society and the unconscious of the subject (S, ES). On the first vector, the message always comes from the big Other, addressing the subject of the unconscious:

The message, our message, in all cases comes from the Other by which I understand ‘from the place of the other’. It is certainly not the common other, the other with a lower-case o (in French: a, autre, P.K.) and this is why I have given a capital O (in French: A, Autre, P.K.) as the initial letter to the Other of whom I am now speaking (Lacan, 2015, p. 45).

The big Other (A) takes over the function of the Althusserian interpellation (in the register of the symbolic) and thus determines the subject. Structures − in the sense of ‘systems’ − establish the subject by evoking and creating the unconscious (Althusser et al., 2014, p. 190), and the subject arises through the submission to the big Other's interpellation. In this framework, the Lacanian subject is split between the ego and the unconscious, or to put it more radically, ‘the subject is nothing more but this very split’ (Fink, 2017, p. 45). Fink expounds:

This momentous split is the product of the functioning of language … Though the subject is nothing here but a split between two forms of otherness − the ego as other and the unconscious as the Other's discourse − the split itself stands in excess of the Other (Fink, 2017, p. 45).

In our example, the German acquaintances took the place of the big Other by determining the participant's subjectivity: they claimed to know her roots and who she was. In the unconscious, the Germans become the big other who linguistically determines the identity of the Turkish participant. In order to evade this powerful determining influence, the participant fled back to the primordial determination, that is, being primarily Turkish.1

The second vector (in the L-scheme) is the imaginary connection between the ego (a) and its mirror image (a’). The ego (a) recognizes itself in the others (a’), like in a mirror, and the others seem to be nothing more than imaginary copies of the ego. In his early writings, Lacan understood ‘structure’ to be ‘external social structures’, for example, the emotional relationships between family members (Evans, 2006, p. 195). In assuming that these social relations become internalized, Lacan shuffled his formerly superficial view: ‘Structure’ includes now both the intersubjective and intrasubjective dimensions: The big Other (A) is now understood intersubjectively (as family, religious or social institutions) as well as intrasubjectively (as the ego-ideal, i.e. the superego). The ‘structure’ is also doubled on the second, imaginary axis: The imaginary intersubjectivity of our participants may be shown by the fact that almost all of them chose a partner from their own cultural background. Moreover, the imaginary intrasubjective structure is reflected in the participants’ ideal ego that requires a high degree of professional performance and social success. These ideas refer exactly to the questions concerning the relationship between subject and structure in the context of migration. In our example, the young lady represents the subject. The structure (or system) is represented by the other people, the acquaintances, who give her the feeling of being a second-class citizen. The dialectical relationship between subject and structure shows itself in the non-recognition and the participant's withdrawal of accepting the German identity. This libidinous de-cathexis can be understood as a typical answer to the social non-recognition as autonomous individual.

As the literature suggests, Islamic migrants experience profound processes of cultural or political transformation. An important and widely acknowledged psychoanalytic work on migration comes from León and Rebeca Grinberg (2009). In this work, the authors primarily deal with the conscious and unconscious effects of migration on identity, that is, how the migrant's subjectivity is established. They provide a compact overview of the broad spectrum of various disorders that can occur as a consequence of migration. Migration may trigger different types of anxieties: separation anxiety, persecutory anxieties arising from confrontation with the new and unknown, and depressive anxieties affecting the loss of the former world. Migration is therefore associated with fear of separation, loss and abandonment (Schaich, 2012, p. 522). In Lacanian terms, the split subject is confronted in a more or less frightening way with a newly emerging big Other (A) as well as with the loss of the familiar imaginary other (a’). It could be that after the attacks of 9/11, the hostility of the Western societies made this confrontation even tougher. Above all, migrants from the Islamic world currently experience profound processes of political, cultural and social transformation in their countries (Benslama, 2017). In this respect, the big Other, represented by the Islamic-Turkish culture, may be in a state of critical upheaval being characterized by conflicts between progressive and conservative forces. Morel (2018) describes how the Islamic subject radicalizes in extreme cases. Radicalization could be seen as a revenge against a society that is viewed as unjust. It is the answer to extremely painful non-recognition. From this point of view, radicalization could be discerned as a possible outcome of a predominantly failed integration.

In this context, this study aimed to examine the relationship between the subject and various aspects of the structure in the integration of young Muslims in Germany. We understand structure and system as synonymous representations of the other (including the big Other). On the basis of our results, we will conceptualize the idea of integration in terms of Lacan's subject theory. Our main questions revolved around the topics: What attitudes and feelings do young Muslims express in connection with their socio-cultural integration in German society? Which tendencies towards objectalization and disobjectalization can be seen? Are there any gender-specific differences? The results on (dis)objectalization and gender specificity will be published in a different paper.

How We Designed Our Study

We conducted a total of 50 qualitative research interviews with Turkish and Kurdish Muslims between 18 and 25 years of age. This study was approved by the ethics board of the University of Lubeck (10 October 2017). The study was conducted at the Hospital of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Bad Segeberg and the University-Ambulance of the Medical School Hamburg (MSH). The study spanned three years. Preparations began in 2017. We collected data from June 2018 to November 2019. Data analysis began during data collection. We planned to examine a sample with the broadest possible social stratification. This is why we reached out to Islamic communities, associations and advice centres in Hamburg and the surrounding cities. Also, we hung up notices about the study at the MSH. We however encountered considerable reluctance with our research project in Islamic institutions. Only the members of a single Islamic community association agreed to be interviewed by us. The majority of our participants are students who were very willing and open to participate in the study. So, on the one hand we encountered a strong reluctance, whilst on the other hand, several participants emphasized how important it was for them to make their voice heard. We suspected that the topic of integration or disintegration is currently regarded as highly problematic, so much that prospective participants did not want to get involved in an audio-documented interview study.

In order to achieve theoretical saturation, that is, to record the total variance of a phenomenon, 20 to 40 interviews are recommended (Glinka, 1998, quoted from Küsters, 2009). With our approach of conducting 50 interviews, we sought to ensure that as many possible phenomena could be included. The Muslims who took part in the study (N = 50) were aged 18 − 25 years (M = 22.32, SD = 1.93). Female and male participants did not differ in terms of their age (U = 305.50, Z = −0.14, p = 0.89). Three participants were about to finish high school (6%), three were vocational school students (6%), seven were employed (14%) and 37 were university students (74%). We would like to emphasize that the reports of this study are to be understood as statements about a group of well-integrated young Muslims of various denominations of Islam.

The interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. The questions included the following areas: relationship experiences, self-awareness/self-image, conflicts and traumatic experiences, physical experiences, gender identity and migration. The interview style was an open conversation. We invited the participants to talk freely about themselves and their world, creating a safe space for them to make associations and develop spontaneous narratives. With the participants’ written consent, the interviews were audio-documented, transcribed and imported into computer software. The transcription generated 1204 A4 pages. The content of the interviews was analysed using the qualitative software program atlas.ti.

METHODOLOGY OF OUR PSYCHOANALYTICALLY ORIENTED RESEARCH

We initially carried out a test coding of the first 10 interviews. Based on this coding, we created a codebook that served as the basis for coding of all interviews. Therefore, elements of the qualitative content analysis, which contains the deductive/structural codes, were linked with the inductive/open approach of grounded theory. Structural and open codes were designed, and ideas and observations recorded in memos during the analysis process.

The structural codes (SCs) were derived from Lacanian theory. We established these before the coding of the interviews. They include the subject and the relationship between subject and structure. There are several definitions in psychodynamic literature describing what a subject is. Freud (1915, 1920) understands it to be the psychological reality of a person. Lacan (1993) regards the subject as the precipitate of the big Other and speaks of the subject of the unconscious (Žižek, 2001, 2008). In our study, the term subject initially refers to the interviewed person who reports about himself/herself and his/her world (including the possibility that the unconscious is determined by the big Other). Furthermore, the subject is always in a constitutive reciprocal relationship to the structure (Lacan, 2015; Mura, 2014; Recalcati, 2000): The structure helps the subject to create a linguistic, social, political and cultural order (Greshoff & Schimank, 2006; Srubar, 2005). The forms (SCs) of the relationship between subject and structure used for this work are subject-family, subject-culture Germany, subject-culture Turkey, subject-religion Christian, subject-religion Islamic, subject-social Germany, subject-social Turkey, subject-institutional Germany and subject-institutional Turkey.

During the data analysis of the first 10 interviews, we also developed open codes (OCs) that were directly related to the participants’ statements. We then designed a codebook for the structural and open codes with a definition and anchor examples. The following 40 interviews were coded with the help of this codebook. In memo writings, all ideas, associations and mini-theories are recorded in the form of memos during the coding process (Glaser & Holton, 2004). This is where the actual grounded theory process takes place, which also allows the connection to a psychoanalytically oriented approach.

The methodological approach of the grounded theory methodology is based on the premise ‘all is data’ (Glaser, 2001). According to this premise, any data material can be checked and used within the framework of the research process (Glaser, 2007). The grounded theory methodology (GTM) according to Glaser and Holton (2004) is not a theory in the conventional sense. Rather, the GTM provides the basis for discovering, working out and generating hidden theories from diverse data (Glaser & Holton, 2004; Mey & Mruck, 2011, 2014).

For the present research, the Glaser approach plays an important role, especially with regard to open coding and notation. Emerging ideas, associations, hypotheses and theories were recorded during the coding process in the form of memos. The participants’ verbal statements were linked with inductive codes (OCs) in accordance with the grounded theory methodology in the sense of open coding. In the final steps of the analysis, the simultaneous occurrence of structural and open codes (‘co-occurrence’) was examined. Furthermore, the interrater agreement was determined for the structural and open codes used. According to Mayring (2015), intersubjective agreement is an important prerequisite for qualitative research. This correspondence between two raters was calculated using the statistical measure Cohen's kappa (κ). In the present study, all codes display good to excellent (M = 0.72; SD = 0.11) interrater agreement (Landis & Koch, 1977).

RESULTS: WHAT HAVE WE IDENTIFIED TO BE IMPORTANT FOR SUCCESSFUL INTEGRATION?

For the presentation of the results, we selected the three open codes (OCs) which most frequently occur together with the structural codes of subject and relationship between subject and structure.

The open codes are: ‘taking-responsibility’, ‘feeling-held’ and ‘being-able-to-process-experiences’. This triad occurred most frequently both in the subject and in the relationship between subject and structure. In the following, we first describe the co-occurrence of the three open codes both with the structural code ‘subject’ and with the structural code ‘relationship between subject and structure’ in their facets mentioned above. This selection is based on the extensive text material of the interviews. Table 1 gives an overview of the co-occurrence analysis of deductive/structural codes (SCs) and inductive/open codes (OCs).

Table 1. Co-Occurrence: Subject and Structure Codes (SCs) with the Open Codes (OCs) Structural codes n OC Sa (%) OC Eb (%) OC Vc (%) Subject 5377 1 98.45 99.65 Subject-culture 2466 57.54 56.50 50.71 Subject-culture Germany 829 43.79 29.31 56.45 Subject-culture Turkish 1220 36.64 23.93 45.82 Subject-religion Christian 114 27.19 28.95 55.26 Subject-religion Islamic 938 33.69 27.51 48.93 Subject-social Germany 1527 44.34 34.59 56.25 Subject-social Turkish 636 21.70 20.13 30.50 Subject-institutional Germany 1266 40.05 26.74 55.69 Subject-institutional Turkish 445 19.78 13.48 31.91 The values are given in per cent and rounded to second decimal. OC S = feeling-held; OC E = taking-responsibility; OC V = being-able-to-process-experiences. a n = 1559 b n = 122 c n = 2254. Open Code: Feeling-held Subject

Many of the participants spoke about experiences from their childhood; how they felt comfortable, safe and in good hands, being recognized and mirrored by the others. They attributed this to the fact that there was a safe and protective space from which they still benefit today: ‘And I am very grateful that I grew up here, I got a lot of possibilities … be it education. Yes, well I feel very comfortable here’ (participant 44).

Subject-family

The participants often said that they feel secure and acknowledged within their family: ‘the most important thing for me is my family … family is my happiness and simply satisfaction’ (participant 5). This feeling forms an important basis for the young Muslims to be able to safely explore the world outside: ‘You had a livelihood and could always fall back on it’ (participant 39). Participants of families with a difficult social background providing little comfort or protection are more likely to develop psychosomatic symptoms such as ‘vertigo attacks’ (participant 1).

Subject-culture Germany

Many participants reported that they feel very comfortable in Germany due to the structured way of approaching things: ‘What I like is that it is very structured’ (participant 26). They use the German culture as a resource for their professional education and are grateful for the security and reliability this culture provides to them.

Subject-culture Turkey

Turkish culture plays a major role not only in the participant's own family but also in the Turkish communities: ‘And there [in Turkey] I also like the people, how they are, I think that's great too, just my family atmosphere, so I feel very, very comfortable there’ (participant 26). Those who do not feel secure can develop psychosomatic symptoms such as ‘dizziness’ or ‘nausea’ (participant 12).

Subject-religion Christian

The Christian religion is rarely described. It is mostly mentioned in connection with other religions or when religion is addressed in general: ‘Religion plays the most important role for me personally, because my religion personally enabled me to turn things around, because I learned how to behave towards other people, that one should not distinguish believers from non-believers, that the atheist is also part of it, that the Christian is also part of it’ (participant 33). At the same time, it is often criticized that the Germans are not religious: ‘German population is not religious. Many are atheistic or non-denominational. I think that's a shame’ (participant 26).

Subject-religion Islamic

Religion plays a very important role for the vast majority of the young Muslims: ‘Well, I have a pretty good memory. That's how you learn suras, i.e., passages, by heart, and I was able to do that fairly quickly. It also had a great social impact, we went to the mosque when I was eight, nine and ten, and you are in a group with your peers’ (participant 12). Those who feel secure by the structure mostly describe it as a personal resource: ‘The religion that takes me further in life because it gives me motivation, because religion simply gives me the necessary strength’ (participant 21). Therefore, religion functions as a good and nourishing introject: ‘You are never alone, that is also yes. That is a special thing that I also need as a person’ (participant 32).

Subject-social Germany

German sports and leisure facilities play a special role, as it helps to develop a feeling of community: ‘I come from a somewhat smaller area in the city. It is usually the case that your schoolmates were also your teammates from soccer’ (participant 38).

Subject-social Turkey

Here the role of the family and the village community is often described, which has a ‘holding’ function. Thus, the family structures on the one hand overlap with the Turkish social structures on the other hand: ‘Well there [in Turkey] funerals take place in a very quick process. The family very quickly came together. You then had this holding very quickly’ (participant 7). Our participants live between the two countries: ‘There they say to you, you are “the German”, here they say to you, you are “the Turk”’ (participant 38).

Subject-institutional Germany

As already mentioned, the interviewees expressed their approval of the German structure. This also includes the institutional facilities within Germany, which further contribute to this experience of reliability. At the same time, they also fear that should they openly show that they belong to the Islamic religion using a traditional characteristic (e.g., a headscarf), they will be discriminated against in society: ‘I would have liked to have studied teaching, but in the back of my mind I feared that I might not be allowed to work with a headscarf. That's why I decided to study pharmacology’ (participant 48).

Subject-institutional Turkey

The institutions in Turkey are less rigidly organized: ‘Then I had to go to the [Turkish] consulate where the administration and bureaucracy were not on time so stressful. I realized: Wow, I'm German’ (participant 23).

Open Code: Able to Process Experiences Subject

We coded passages that show the differentiation between the young Muslims in dealing with negative experiences: ‘At school, there were situations where other students used words like “Turk” or “Muslim” to throw insults’ (participant 7). A majority of the participants react to emerging challenges with humour, quick-wittedness and tireless energy. Participant 1 described the following incident in which she learned to deal with such situations: ‘Saying things like, when my mother called school, “Wow, your mom speaks German well”, I learned to answer with: “Yes, you too!”’. She continues: ‘This is a fight that I started and I will continue’. How the participants report such problems makes it clear that experiences of discrimination are processed in a differentiated manner.

Subject-family

What participants reported repeatedly is the importance and cohesion of the family, which is perceived as being helpful: ‘For example, with us, I already do a lot at home, like in the household mom earns the money, so to speak, and we have a close relationship, we can talk about everything, so I can tell her everything’ (participant 3). However, the family does not always have to act as a resource: Another participant reported that the demands of the primary family and of the partner are in a strong conflict. The different needs are thus opposed: ‘As a woman, you are worth something when you are still a virgin: That's in the eyes of your family. As a woman, you are worth something when you have sexual experiences. That's in your husband's eyes. Two worlds again’ (participant 42).

Subject-culture Germany The participants reported particularly that they perceive German culture as structured and based on rules. Many have got used to this reliability and start to get ‘fidgety’ when they deviate (participant 4). They reflected on these cultural characteristics, such as continuing the chosen path in a disciplined manner, absorbing them to advance their professional career and to be able to deal with possible stressful experiences:

But honestly, that [the training] is not my dream … I didn't succeed in achieving a higher education but I know so many people who are still just after three years looking for something or have done part-time jobs but have no training, do not have a place at university. If you work well, are very hardworking and show commitment, then I think it [finding a great job] should pose no problem either (participant 28).

Subject-culture Turkey The interviewees said that they would like to integrate parts of the Turkish culture into their life in Germany. The headscarf should no longer be devalued, but it should be recognized that women who wear a headscarf and work in a higher position are also part of German culture:

my wish … for the future, is … even with a headscarf, [that] I am in a position where you can say from an outside perspective, she made it so that people don't think only cleaning ladies wear headscarves, but generally … that it is now common to see several Muslim young women in higher positions (participant 20).

There is also a great desire for more understanding and support from the German media on different cultural customs:

Yes, my aunt is a civil servant in Turkey and she does not wear a headscarf, how does that work? Something like this, I would like, that you had an objective world of media, where you just objectively say that this is Turkey, this is Germany, and what I really wish would happen is for the relationship between Germany and Turkey to become normal (participant 33).

Subject-religion Christian The Christian religion was only sparingly mentioned. Participant 33 stated:

Through my religion [Islam] I have learned how to behave towards other people, that the atheist belongs to it, the Christian belongs to it, the Jew also belongs to it. One accepts someone else because they are the creation of God (participant 33).

Subject-religion Islamic The interviewees described how they come into contact with the Islamic religion through family or friends. In doing so, they independently process the experiences from their surroundings and, for example, use empirical values to determine the extent to which they identify themselves publicly with their religion:

I wouldn't say that I have to wear a headscarf to show that I am Muslim. For me these are just things, I have respect for them, my boyfriend's mother also wears a headscarf herself, I respect everyone's own choice in this matter (participant 1).

Subject-social Germany The individual external structures (people and/or small groups) of German socialization help the young Muslims to overcome their challenges:

That was the first time when I actually decided on a confrontation and then said ‘ok, something must be done’. That was the connection to founding a political committee with a fellow student from the university dealing with such topics and I perceived it as a racist remark and it drove me mad when people around me said: ‘oh, don't feel offended‘ (participant 1).

This also includes unpleasant experiences from everyday life that irritated the interviewees, such as verbal arguments.

Subject-Social Turkey

The participants’ experiences in the social space of Turkey are mostly made during vacation or study stays. For example, feeling German in Turkey and Turkish in Germany is reported by many participants, including participant 38: ‘But when you are in Turkey, they say to you German. Here they say to you Turk. I would say now, that is nothing bad’.

Subject-Institutional Germany: The participants described above all their contacts with the institutional organizations of the German society. They usually viewed these as very reliable, structured and helpful in pursuing their own goals:

I was in a mentoring program as a mentee − and I had a mentor who was a law student and a German with a Turkish background. Most of my acquaintances there have not studied … worked their way up there, bought a car and then most of the money goes into insuring the car. And he was one of the most essential characters in my life who showed me that you can make something out of yourself, that you are independent of where you come from (participant 25).

Subject-Institutional Turkey

The participants often reported significant changes that the institutional organizations in Turkey have experienced. They have also made the experience that the reliability of the institutions there varies more than in Germany. Opinions on the role of the Turkish president who is mentioned multiple times vary. It is also often said that the German media criticized the president. As an example, a statement from participant 18 follows: ‘I used to think Erdogan was ok, more or less. But the fact that the German media attacks him like that, makes you feel like as if one had to defend him’.

Open Code: Taking-responsibility Subject

Taking-responsibility means taking responsibility for oneself, one's way of life and responsibility for others. The high number of codings provides indications of the subjects’ ability to reflect. The subjects are active in a variety of ways and can explain their actions in the context around them and act as mediators so that their environment entrusts them with responsible tasks. They take responsibility for themselves and their own lives: ‘I am in an apprenticeship, I would like to complete it and then take any further training measures and then keep on training, read books, keep up to date’ (participant 2). Regarding the relationship between subject and structure, our participants take on a special degree of responsibility in cooperation with the structure, mostly to ensure that their efforts to integrate are followed by success:

Subject-family

Furthermore, parents simply delegate the responsibility of successful integration to their children: ‘My parents did not give me what I needed to be successful in Germany. I have to work it all out myself, I have to fight hard for everything bit by bit’ (participant 27). The participants repeatedly described their childhood as an important basis on which they were encouraged to take on responsibility: ‘[My grandmother] used to take care of me. She supported me then, now I support her in everything’ (participant 4).

Subject-culture-Germany

German culture is predominantly rated as positive: ‘This structure, this German accuracy, that is something that I have worked on as a discipline and also internalized [and will also help me] for my work’ (participant 9). However, sometimes German culture is perceived as stressful: ‘I was very, very annoyed by the German system. The constant expectation: you have to go to school, then work, leaves you with hardly any free time. I asked myself why I have been working here constantly?’ (participant 23).

Subject-culture Turkey

In the case of Turkish culture, the participants particularly praised the interactive aspect. The subjects learn from an early age how to take responsibility for one another as part of the culture: ‘So the reason why Turkey is so important to me is above all family and its solidarity the feeling of being together’ (participant 12).

Subject-religion Islamic Many participants described that confessing to their religion with religious symbols can make their professional advancement more difficult:

I cannot imagine myself wearing a headscarf. [Because] I know that this will make my progression through life more difficult. I have not seen a woman wearing a headscarf in a management position or one who works as an engineer in a large company (participant 32).

By continuing to stand by their religion and thus anchoring it more and more in German society, they take responsibility for it and advocate for more equality.

Subject-Social Germany

The participants’ determination is also shown by the fact that they bring the necessary energy to endure in Germany's social structures: ‘My parents did not give me what I needed to be successful in Germany. I have to work out everything myself, fight hard bit by bit’ (participant 27). This is an example of the impression that participants have to fight their way through independently and take on a lot of personal responsibility to have a successful integration. Participant 34 speaks about a discriminatory experience in the social-institutional space: ‘I also had the problem at my school that I was suddenly labelled a terrorist by the teacher because I came to school wearing black clothes’.

Subject-social Turkey In many cases, the friendly treatment is, for example, when visiting Turkey, described as very positive: ‘Sun, beach, sea, good weather. The people are all nice and helpful. Everyone is in a good mood’ (participant 42). At the same time, a lot of pressure is exerted within the social system and responsibility is expected:

I am a son in the family, who has to be strong, who has to build his own life. That's how it is seen in Turkey … He [the son] has to make something of himself, has to be hardworking, has to study, has to properly care for his family. After my father had a heart attack, he said that when he is no longer alive that I will be the one responsible for taking care of the family; that was very direct, very hard (participant 15).

Subject-institutional Germany The interviewees use the educational opportunities available and said that they want to improve their economic situation and their parents’ standard of living:

For my life: security for me, my family and prosperity and I think the rest will then fall into place, these are very important factors. I envision Germany in its full multicultural potential. That you respect others and their way of life (participant 10).

At the same time, many participants also reported discriminatory experiences they have had with government agencies in Germany: One person stated how she felt devalued due to her poor grade in German class: ‘My German teacher thought that I couldn't speak German and that you should have it checked by the immigration authorities in retrospect that was my first confrontation with everyday racism’ (participant 1).

Subject-institutional Turkey For many participants, Turkey is a place of longing where they like to go on vacation, but where they cannot imagine settling down. Participant 7 speaks of his wishes:

If I could wish for something? That people wake up! It was unfair that people couldn't go to the polling station. [I hope] that things are moving more in the direction of democracy in Turkey again and not moving away from it bit by bit … That would be very important to me (participant 7).

DISCUSSION

In our study, we asked 50 young Muslims questions about the subject constitution and the relationship between subject and the intra-subjective as well as inter-subjective structure. The most common open codes that we assigned were constructive: ‘feeling-held’, ‘being-able-to-process-experiences’ and ‘taking-responsibility’. Many participants describe intact and close family relationships, calling the family the most important thing in their life. They describe how they can deal with positive and negative experiences. They need to take responsibility for their own lives and others. Concerning the successful educational status of our participants, we would like to derive the hypothesis from this finding that this triad represents typical features for successful professional integration: those who feel they are at home in their Turkish family or in the Islamic religion can process (negative) experiences and have (mature) superego structures. A person being-able-to-take-responsibility both for him-/herself and for others will also be able to deal with the challenges of migration more easily than a person who does not have these resources. Since we have not aggregated enough data for the group of young people affected by some form of disintegration, a possible theoretical link should be considered. In discussing radicalization, Benslama (2017) notes that these young people (predominantly being male) have given up their freedom in order to relieve themselves from confusing feelings, fears about life, and disorientation. They begin to use religion to eradicate everything feminine in themselves and to disguise themselves with a toxic masculinity. In doing so, the reduction of the Islamic religion to the political issues abuses the idealism of the young people and leads to the erasure of their individuality. Being a member of a radicalized group, the subject attains a sense of ‘infinite power’ (see also Freud, 1921).

This leads to a self-hating and inhuman ideology. It seems understandable that this group of young people would not have felt addressed by an invitation to participate in a scientific study. Nevertheless, future studies should be conducted with these groups, as the description of their inner lives can provide valuable insights.

The interviews show that the ability to triangulate between the subject and two structures or systems may be helpful for a successful integration. This is our first hypothesis. Many participants reported that they were able to maintain a good relationship with their Turkish culture and their family as well as with German culture and society. They can use the advantages of both Turkish and German structures. This development is initiated by an atmosphere in which the participants feel that they are being held by the others, that is, by the social environment of the family. In this safe atmosphere, a basis is formed on which they can process their experiences. The reflection process allows them to take on responsibility. They can reach a mature position in which the subject is able to integrate into both countries.

This sets up the second hypothesis: Those who can shape their world triadically have a greater chance of integrating themselves successfully. It is the oedipal triad in which the child (subject) has an individual relationship to both the mother and the father, that is, can integrate two early objects and recognize them as independent and individual (Rohde-Dachser, 1987). However, some participants tend to have dyadic relationships. They experience the outer world as more or less divided, that is, into ‘familiar’ and ‘foreign’, into ‘appreciative’ and ‘devaluing’. A study by social scientist Ruud Koopmans (2015) carried out with Muslims in six European countries revealed that around half of the respondents are convinced that the West wants to destroy Islam. A mature resolution to the Oedipus complex would be to abstain from incestuous (dyadic) relationships and to love the parent with whom the child had rivalled (Freud, 1924; Rohde-Dachser, 1987). Applying this to migration means renouncing the incestuous relationship with one culture/society and loving or recognizing the other, alternative culture. This resolution of the Oedipus allows the participant to obtain what they need from both cultures. We suggest that this process is the real integrative effort that young Muslims need to achieve.

Above all it seemed that the participants experienced verbal discrimination. However, subjects with a triadic model perceive racism as less threatening or place positive aspects of German structures at the forefront. Racial discrimination means castration. André Green (2001) distinguished between a ‘narcissistic’, dyadic castration and an ‘oedipal’ castration belonging to the triad. For the participants who reported dyadic constellations, racial discrimination represents a higher burden as ‘narcissistic’ castration. Accordingly, they react angrily and prefer Islamic culture and religion or distance themselves from the German culture. While participants reported that there certainly are experiences of discrimination in Germany, their visit to Turkey conveyed experiences of alterity: they are not of less value in Turkey but nonetheless feel to a certain extent a bit foreign. Despite these experiences of alterity, the environment in Turkey is described as rather positive and affectionate.

Above all, integration appeared to be an intra-psychic process and not only the external adaption to the demands of the big Other. Most of the young Muslims we interviewed reported a very pronounced adjustment. They were rather well adjusted to the Western system or structures. They displayed a strong willingness to perform successfully and a high level of commitment and enthusiasm. This shows the double-faced nature of the Oedipus: On the one hand, it enables successful social integratio