263,357 research outputs found
“Asking Around”: Immigrants' Counterstrategies to Renew Their Residence Permit in Times of Economic Crisis in Italy
No full textIn contrast to the main body of literature focusing on irregular migrants' counterstrategies, this article explores regular migrant workers' practices to renew their residence permit in an attempt to circumvent structural hurdles due to the restrictive Italian legislative framework. Studying migrants' agency in a socioeconomic context, characterized by high unemployment rates and extensive informal working patterns, I thus distinguish three main counterstrategies: (1) the use of their informal networks to falsify their working relations; (2) the possibility of starting up an individual firm; and (3) taking advantage of structural “loopholes.”
Migrants and Undeclared Employment within the European Construction Sector: Challenging Dichotomous Approaches to Workers’ Agency
No full textDrawing upon qualitative data on Albanians residing in Italy and Greece, this article furnishes new insights into the topic of undeclared migrant construction workers’ agency. It analyses different types of undeclared work through Katz’s theoretical framework that suggests a disaggregated conceptualisation of agency. In so doing, it adds to thinking on the factors shaping fluidity between types of agency and challenges dichotomous views on passive or voluntary participation. The article also highlights that mutual interests between workers and employers enable migrant builders to defy and resist state regulations, despite the impacts of undeclared work on workers and the fact that power dynamics are unequal. Thus, the main contribution the article makes is to suggest a more nuanced understanding of labour agency that may go beyond the conflict between employers and workers. Overall, the article highlights the relevance of this study for different economic sectors, geographical areas and migrant groups
Sarah Pink, Dylan Tutt, Andrew Dainty (Eds.), Ethnographic Research in the Construction Industry
No full textOnward Migration Aspirations and Transnational Practices of Migrant Construction Workers Amidst Economic Crisis: Exploring New Opportunities and Facing Barriers
No full textConsidering onward migration aspirations of Albanian migrants in Italy and Greece, this article investigates the reproduction of transnational practices in relation to preferred destinations before new settlements take place. Drawing on qualitative data, it introduces the concept of explorative transnational practices and sheds light on the interplay between aspirations and transnationalism, showing how the desire to leave the first country may be shaped by transnational ties, and how this may trigger occasional transnational physical activity to explore new destinations. On one hand, this version of transnational mobility may engender remigration, but, on the other, this may be transformed into income-oriented work trips due to structural constraints (legal status, immigrant networks) and a lack of linguistic and economic capital, as well as other factors such as integration processes, intergenerational relationships and experiences in new destinations. This questions the very presumptions of the transnationalist approach that underscore agentic dimensions of transnational migrants
A. Triandafyllidou (ed.), Irregular Migrant Domestic Workers in Europe: Who Cares?, Ashgate, February 2013, pp. 256
No full textUndeclared employment in the Italian and Greek construction industry
No full textThis paper explores the nature and the prevalence of undeclared employment within the Italian and Greek construction industry. Focusing on data obtained from in-depth interviews with Albanian construction workers employed in the residential construction, and various stakeholders, this paper aims to advance the understanding on both migrants and natives’ engagement in undeclared work. The findings stress the importance of moving beyond unidirectional explanations on the prevalence of informal employment
Albanian migration to the UK: changing migration routes in turbulent times and the criminalisation of asylum seekers
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“Working there is amazing, but life here is better”: Imaginaries of onward migration destinations among Albanian migrant construction workers in Italy and Greece
No full textImmigrants’ Religious Transmission in Southern Europe: Reaction or Assimilation? Evidence from Italy
No full textIn recent decades, scholars have been increasingly interested in analysing immigrants' religiosity in Europe. In this article, we provide evidence about how the patterns of religious transmission are shaped by religious characteristics of both the origin and receiving contexts. We do so by focusing on Italy, which is both an almost homogeneously Catholic country and a fairly recent immigration destination, and by analysing three different dimensions of religiosity: service attendance, prayer and importance of religion. By relying on the "Social conditions and integration of foreign citizens" survey (ISTAT, 2011-2012), we fill an important theoretical and geographical gap by analysing differences in religiosity between parents and children. We claim that immigrant groups who share many characteristics with the natives tend to assimilate by adopting the same patterns of transmission (for example, Romanians in Italy). In contrast, immigrants who come from very different religious contexts, such as the Muslim Moroccan group, strongly react to this diversity by emphasising the transmission of their own religiosity. If, instead, immigrants come from a very secular country, such as Albania, they also tend to replicate this feature in the receiving countries, thus progressively weakening their religiosity and also their denominational differences. Overall, it is the interplay between origin and destination context which matters the most in shaping the patterns of religious transmission
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