New book: Revisiting migrant networks. Migrants and their descendants in labour markets

02 May 2022

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

 
 
 

Latest News

Angeliki Konstantinidou

Fully funded PhD scholarship: Horizon Europe project FAiR at Danube University Krems (AT)

20 March 2023
Deadline: 19 April 2023 The University for Continuing Education Krems specializes in part-time academic continuing education. As a public university for continuing education, it works with its expertise in teaching and research to overcome societal...
The Migration Podcast

Join the IMISCOE Migration Podcast as interviewer

17.03.2023
Are you actively involved in migration research and would like to contribute to making migration research more accessible? Then consider joining us as an Interviewer.

read more

Elsa Mescoli

CFP Geographies of Migration and Art: Intersections and Imaginaries, Flows and Controls

Deadline 15/3/2023
Organised by Dr Saskia Warren (The University of Manchester) and Dr Amanda Rogers (Swansea University) Human Geographers have made a sustained, but perhaps under-recognised, contribution to understanding the relationship between migration and art...
IMISCOE Network Office

Doctoral position in Sociology with a focus on Migration and Integration: University of Gothenburg

08 March 2023
Doctoral student in Sociology with focus on migration and integration Deadline for applications: April 5, 2023 Ref PAR 2023/155 The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 56 000 students and 6 600 employees make...
IMISCOE Network Office

International Women’s Day: Focus on 3 recent IMISCOE Research Series Books in the field of gender and migration

08 March 2023
Migration and Domestic Work Author(s): Sabrina Marchetti This open access short reader offers a systematic overview of the scholarly debate on the experiences of migrant domestic workers at a global level, in the past as well as in present time. It...