How to reach the top? Fields, forms of capital, and strategies in accessing leadership positions in France among descendants of migrants from Turkey

Abstract

This article explores the experiences of highly educated descendants of migrants from Turkey when achieving leading positions in the corporate business, education, and law sectors in France. It illustrates the forms of capital and strategies that are considered significant for accessing leadership positions in these sectors, and how experiences vary across different fields. Our research illuminates the various strategies pursued by descendants of migrants from Turkey in their pathways to attaining leadership positions, and suggests how similar forms of capital work in distinct ways across different sectors.

Youth Transitions among Descendants of Turkish Immigrants in Amsterdam and Strasbourg:

“…Another strand of emerging research examines the "successful" group within the Turkish second generation, thereby emphasizing that the entire group cannot be categorised as disadvantaged (Crul et al 2017;Schneider and Lang 2014;Keskiner and Crul 2017;Vermeulen and Keskiner 2017). Studies pursuing a more qualitative approach have identified the roles of institutional structures in education and the labour market in shaping the upward mobility of descendants of Turkish immigrants (Keskiner and Crul 2017;Konyali 2017). While successful in uncovering the mechanisms to achieve higher education levels, this stream of research does not account for those individuals who do not achieve upward mobility, nor the type of support mechanisms available (or not) to them.…”

“…Because initially used forms of capital to study the social reproduction of advantage among the dominant group, he is often criticised for being a theorist of reproduction rather than of change and transformation (Bennett et al 2009;Jenkins 2002). Yet, migration scholars have used his theoretical toolkit to illustrate capital development (Keskiner 2015(Keskiner , 2017Keskiner and Crul 2017) and intra-group variations of capital acquisition and production . showed how, over time, migrant women have developed different forms of capital in their migration trajectories and selectively turned to resources from their home country.…”

Bourdieu Capitals and Leadership: The Case of Design Consultant Firms’ Managers in the Malaysian Construction Industry

“…Bourdieu capitals used for leadership studies are in education [20], sports [21], and community researches [22]. Evidences of leadership studies using Bourdieu capitals in other fields include business [23], ethnic studies [24] and politics [25]. No leadership studies based on Bourdieu capitals has been carried out upon the creative practitioners in the construction industry.…”

Ethnic niche formation at the top? Second-generation immigrants in Norwegian high-status occupations

“…In their classic article on segmented assimilation theory, Portes and Zhou (1993, 87) argue that self-employment "offers a prime avenue for mobility to second-generation youths", as they can draw on the social capital in their ethnic community to create opportunities that are not available to them through competition in the open labour market. Recent European studies have observed that highly educated descendants of Turkish migrants occasionally establish their own businesses or carve out niches within mainstream firms where they can profit from their ethnic background (Konyali 2017;Keskiner and Crul 2017;. However, few attempts have been made to explore the processes of ethnic niche formation at the top of the labour market hierarchy, as the ethnic niche concept traditionally has been employed as a lens for studying the concentration of immigrants or specific ethnic groups in the lower tiers of the labour market (e.g.…”