This open access book (edited by Elif Keskiner, Michael Eve and Louise Ryan) provides new conceptualisations on the networks of migrants and their descendants in accessing the labour market. Although references to social networks are common in discussions of migration, simplified ideas of co-ethnic networks often obscure the reality, for example confounding ties with co-ethnics and ‘strong ties’. This open access book addresses key questions about the role of networks in migration contexts, particularly in relation to how migrants and their descendants, access the labour market and develop their employment trajectories over time. Rather than adopting a narrow essentializing ethnic lens, the research presented in this book explores intersectional identities of class, generation and gender. By focusing on the kinds of capital circulating between ties, including the dark side of social capital, the book offers insights into power dynamics and the potentially exclusionary dimension of networks. Taking a long term view, across generations, the research in this book shows how migrants and their descendants mobilize resources to tackle discrimination and enhance their position within particular labour markets. Drawing on robust quantitative and rich qualitative data, this book provides a primary source to students, scholars and policy-makers focusing on issues of migration, social networks, social mobility as well as labour market inequalities.
Open access: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-94972-3#toc
Table of contents
1 Introduction: Revisiting Networks: Setting the Conceptual and Methodological Scene
Louise Ryan, Michael Eve, and Elif Keskiner
2 The Direct and Indirect Role of Migrants’ Networks in Accessing Diverse Labour Market Sectors: An Analysis of the Weak/Strong Ties Continuum
Louise Ryan
3 Are “Weak Ties” Really Weak? Social Capital Reliance Among Second Generation Turkish Lawyers in Paris
Elif Keskiner and Ismintha Waldring
4 Context Matters: The Varying Roles of Social Ties for Professional Careers of Immigrants’ Descendants
Christine Lang, Andreas Pott, and Jens Schneider
5 Access to Employment of the Second Generations in France: Unequal Role of Family and Personal Networks by Origins and Gender
Yaël Brinbaum
6 Social Capital, Immigrants and Their Descendants – The Case of Sweden
Alireza Behtoui
7 Activating Social Capital: Steep Mobility of Descendants of Turkish Immigrants at the Top of the Corporate Business Sector
Sara Rezai and Elif Keskiner
8 Reciprocity Within Migrant Networks: The Role of Social Support for Employment
Başak Bilecen
9 Networks in Migration Processes
Michael Eve
10 Early-Career Academics’ Transnational Moves: The Gendered Role of Vertical Social Ties in Obtaining Academic Positions Abroad
Martine Schaer
11 Epilogue: Where Did Weak and Strong Ties Go Wrong?
Maurice Crul