S01 E04 The New Minority

Who is the new minority in superdiverse neighborhoods? And what does this mean for notions of integration and cohesion when there is no longer a numerical majority group that could serve as a benchmark for adaptation processes? In this episode of the Production Site podcast, Dutch migration researchers Maurice Crul and Frans Lelie explore these questions in conversation with anthropologist Jens Schneider. Crul and Lelie have investigated these issues as part of their multi-year international research project “Becoming a Minority” (BaM). How do people cope with the great heterogeneity in their living environment in their everyday lives? What attitudes toward superdiversity can be observed — and what practices? At the end of the episode, Jens Schneider reflects together with his colleague Norma Schemschat on the insights they have gained regarding the ‘production of migration’ in urban contexts.

About the Guests

 Prof. Dr. Maurice Crul is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, working on education and diversity. Over the past 25 years, his research has focused on the educational trajectories and social mobility of children of immigrants, first in the Netherlands and later in comparative European and transatlantic contexts. He coordinated the landmark international  TIES project (The Integration of the European Second Generation), involving researchers from eight European countries and more than 10,000 respondents. Maurice Crul has also led major European Research Council (ERC) projects, including  ELITES: Pathways to Success and  Becoming a Minority (BaM), which examine integration, diversity, and social change in increasingly superdiverse urban societies. His work has significantly shaped international debates on migration, inclusion, and equal opportunities in education.

 Frans Lelie is a trained social worker and a Fellow at the Institute for Sociology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Over the past fifteen years, her work has focused primarily on the education of children from immigrant families. In this context, she has served as project manager for several international research projects, including the  TIES-project on the integration of the second generation in Europe,  ELITES – Pathways to Success on the social mobility of the second generation, and  Becoming a Minority (BaM).

About the Hosts

 Dr. Norma Schemschat has been a postdoctoral researcher at IMIS since 2025, working within the Lower Saxony research cluster  Futures of Migration (FuturMig). Her current work focuses on how knowledge about migration futures is produced, by whom, and with what consequences. Norma Schemschat previously held postdoctoral positions at the University of Amsterdam and was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the École normale supérieure (ENS-PSL) in Paris, where she completed her PhD on refugee arrival and place-making in shrinking cities. Before entering academia, she worked for several NGOs and foundations, including Plan International and Greenpeace.

 Dr. Jens Schneider is an anthropologist and migration researcher at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies (IMIS) at Osnabrück University. His research focuses on identities, superdiverse societies, urban studies, education, cultural production, and reflexive migration research. He currently coordinates the  Reflexivity Lab within the Collaborative Research Centre “Production of Migration” (SFB 1604). Before joining IMIS, Jens Schneider was the international coordinator of the landmark  TIES-project at the University of Amsterdam, which examined the integration of the second generation across Europe. He has contributed extensively to international research on migration, social mobility, belonging, and diversity, and is co-author of several influential publications with Maurice Crul and Frans Lelie on superdiversity and the experiences of the children of immigrants in Europe.