1
Introduction
The Central Statistical Office figures make it abundantly clear that Dutch society is rapidly becoming more
varied. Living in the Netherlands at present are approximately 2.7 million “new Dutch”, i.e. inhabitants
with a different nationality, born in a different country or with at least one parent born elsewhere. The
Central Statistical Office predicts that between 2000 and 2015, an increase of 65 percent can be expected.
Within this group, Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese and Antilleans represent a considerable share (over one
million). Also, it is impossible to imagine our society without the new information and communication
technologies (ICT). According to NUA, a leading online source for trends in Internet use, in 2002 there are
580.78 million Internet users worldwide. Of these, Europe counts 185.83 million people who are active
online; the United States and Canada count for 182.67 million. Further, according to NUA, based on
Nielsen NetRatings dating from February 2002, the Netherlands has 9.28 million people (or 58.07 percent
of the population) with an Internet connection at home or at work. The fact that such figures become out of
date at lightning speed is evidenced by the data from ProActive from February 2000, when only 28.47
percent of the Dutch population was online.
Exactly because cultural diversity and identity mixing are persistent, even increasing characteristics of
Dutch society, and because the media, and thus also new media, can make an important contribution to the
development of identity and promotion of integration of people with a foreign background, in this article
we are analysing the access to ICT amongst the most sizeable groups of new Dutch. In the empirical
section of this article in particular, our consideration will primarily focus on our own quantitative survey-
research and in-depth interviews, which assess trends in the consumer behaviour of mainly Turkish,
Moroccan and Surinamese youth with regards to ICT and the role of ICT in the construction and
perception of their identities. Thus Tapscott (1998: 305) anticipates, correctly or incorrectly, a beneficial
influence of ICT-usage on the current and future “Net” generations, who as true world citizens would be
averse to all forms of racism and sexism, precisely due to their participation in interactive discussion
forums that are by definition spread worldwide: “… They will seek to protect the planet, and I believe they
will find racism, sexism, and other vile remnants of bygone days both weird and unacceptable”. Also
Manuel Castells’ book “The Power of Identity” (1997) is enlightening in the sense that against a
background of globalisation and convergence and the resulting mixture of identities, he points out the
disappearance of the so-called “legitimizing identity” or the original identity, enforced by dominant
national institutions. As a counterreaction, a “resistance identity” develops that probably appears most in
our society and leads to “communities” as Etzioni described them (1993). However, this formation of
identity offers no solutions, is defensive, defines itself on the basis of exclusion and can take extreme
forms such as religious fundamentalism, ethnic nationalism, etc. Castells does see a benefit in the third
type of identity, the so-called “project identity”, which comes into being when social actors, using
whichever cultural materials available to them, build a new identity that redefines their position in society.
A role in this is also reserved for ICT: “The new power lies in the codes of information and in the images
of representation around which societies organize their institutions, and people build their lives, and decide
their behaviour. The locations of this power are people’s minds.” (Castells, 1997: 359)
Convention