‘Making the most of it …’: How young Romanians and Moroccans in north-eastern Italy use resources from their social networks

Abstract

The integration of young immigrants is a key issue in European societies. The article examines how Moroccan and Romanian youths employ their family social networks to move beyond them to get access to other available resources in their context of migration. We find that youths evaluate families as their main source of social capital. But how do they combine family and kinship resources to build new networks? The study draws on 57 in-depth interviews with teenagers from secondary schools in the Veneto Region, a paradigmatic area for the increasing ethnic pluralization of Italian society. Moving beyond the usual understandings of social capital and social networks we focus first on the relationship between bonding and bridging, in particular the distinction between horizontal and vertical bridging among migrants. Then attention is paid to the agency of youths, stressing their social competence to overcome initial difficulties such as gender inequalities or the limits of bonding solidarity.

Childhood memories of belonging among young Romanian migrants in Italy: A qualitative life-course approach

“…The life course approach, applied to recollections of young adults of their childhood experiences, reveals how the interplay of various factors which combine individual experiences with the family's socio-economic and educational background, as well as the larger socio-cultural contexts (Rosenthal and Bogner, 2009) play a role in shaping the respondents' feelings of belonging across time. This life-course approach adds to recent studies that have examined Romanian migrants and their children (Bratu, 2015;Ducu, 2018;Saint-Blancat and Zaltron, 2013;Valtolina, 2013) by paying more specific attention to migrant children's relationship with both the origin and host countries, and by integrating belonging as a dynamic, temporal process.…”

“…Veneto is also a "land of contrast" where, on the one hand, the region's economic vitality is supported by the large number of migrants working in the numerous small and middle-sized businesses. On the other, it is also where Lega Nord finds "its most fertile soil" and where migrants must face the challenges of discrimination (Saint-Blancat and Zaltron, 2013). Perception of migration in Veneto is strongly influenced by the League, meaning the immigration rhetoric is, since the 2000s, largely based on the construction of fear for the foreigner who puts the integrity of local identity at risk (Cancellieri et al, 2014: 34-36).…”

“…They came from all-over Romania, with no region being predominant. In Veneto, they were dispersed across the region, often in very small provincial towns, where their parents could find work (Saint-Blancat and Zaltron, 2013). After migration, most participants spent their summer holidays in Romania, at least until they graduated from high school, when they started developing more independent holiday plans.…”

“…More recently, echoing the rise of moral panics, scholars have focused on the "children left behind" in Romania by their migrating parents (Bezzi, 2013;Pascoal and Schwartz, 2018). Romania's accession to the EU and the growing numbers of children joining their migrating parents abroad, has led to a recent increase in the number of studies on Romanian migrant children and family migration (Ducu, 2018;Miconi et al, 2018;Saint-Blancat and Zaltron, 2013;Valtolina, 2013).…”

Of bonding and bridging: Ethnic social capital and contingent employment among immigrant women in Korea

“…For the purposes of this study, another way of looking at the difference is that the former refers to co-ethnic ties within a close-knit immigrant community. The latter can be seen as comprising relations that cut across ethnic boundaries, i.e., friendship with natives (Nannestad et al., 2008; Saint-Blancat and Zaltron, 2013). In addition to interpersonal networks, involvement in informal organizational activities can also be seen as a form of bridging social capital, which can connect individuals to heterogeneous others from diverse and distant backgrounds (Kanas et al., 2009).…”