New Social Mobility: Second Generation Pioneers in Europe (IMISCOE Research Series)

This open access book comparatively analyses intergenerational social mobility in immigrant families in Europe. It is based on qualitative in-depth research into several hundred biographies and professional trajectories of young people with an immigrant working-class background, who made it into high-prestige professions. The biographies were collected and analysed by a consortium of researchers in nine European countries from Norway to Spain. Through these analyses, the book explores the possibilities of cross-country comparisons of how trajectories are related to different institutional arrangements at the national and local level. The analysis uncovers the interaction effects between structural/institutional settings and specific individual achievements and family backgrounds, and how these individuals responsed to and navigated successfully through sector-specific pathways into high-skilled professions, such as becoming a lawyer or a teacher. By this, it also explains why thesetrajectories of professional success and upward mobility have been so exceptional in the second generation of working-class origins, and it tells us a lot also about exclusion mechanisms that marked the school and professional careers of children of immigrants who went to school in the 1970s to 2000s in Europe – and still do. Contents Chapter 1: Producing Pathways to Success: New Perspectives on Social Mobility 1.1 Against All Odds 1.2 From Social Problems to Social Mobility 1.3 New Social Mobility? 1.4 The Ambiguities of Success 1.5 Producing Pathways to Success 1.6 Book Chapters and Their Theoretical Contributions References Chapter 2: Data, Methods and Comparisons 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Educational and Occupational Trajectories of the Turkish ‘Second-Generation’ – Insights from the TIES Survey 2.2.1 A Closer Look at ‘Climbers’ and ‘Thrivers’ 2.3 ELITES/Pathways to Success: Sampling and Recruiting 2.3.1 Sampling Criteria 2.3.2 Recruitment Strategies 2.3.3 Topics and Comparative Analysis 2.3.3.1 Interview Guides 2.3.3.2 Contextualization 2.3.4 Comparisons References Chapter 3: Setting the Stage: Being Successful and Negotiating New (Mainstream) Identities 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 Belonging and Identification 3.2 Theoretical Considerations 3.3 Examples from Four Countries 3.3.1 A Lawyer in Berlin 3.3.2 An Editor in Ghent 3.3.3 A Banker in Stockholm 3.3.4 A Teacher in Rotterdam 3.4 Navigating Challenges 3.4.1 Being Second Generation 3.4.2 Being Middle-Class 3.4.3 Being a Good Professional 3.4.4 Similarities in Professional Fields Across Countries 3.4.5 The Pragmatic Dimensions of Self-Definitions 3.4.6 Intersections 3.5 Conclusions References Chapter 4: Becoming Successful in the Business and Law Sectors: Institutional Structures and Individual Resources 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Theoretical Framework 4.3 Methodology 4.4 Pathways to Success in the Law and Business Sectors in Germany and France 4.4.1 The Law Sector 4.4.1.1 Independent Lawyers: Ferhat and Demir 4.4.1.2 Careers in Corporate Law Firms: Rezzan and Emel 4.4.2 The Business Sector 4.4.2.1 Careers in Business in Germany: Ayca and Esra 4.4.2.2 Careers in Business in France: Ali and Sukran 4.5 Conclusion References Chapter 5: Teachers of Immigrant Origin: Contextual Factors and Resource Mobilization in Professional Life 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Theoretical Background, Research Questions and Methodology 5.3 Methods, Sample, and Informants’ Characteristics 5.4 Becoming a TIO: From Education to Professional Choice 5.4.1 Analytical Tools 5.4.2 Case Studies 5.4.2.1 Safia: Model Student and a Teacher Through and Through 5.4.2.2 Saladin: Following in the Footsteps of a Few Emancipating Teachers 5.4.2.3 Kerim: Teaching as a Fall-Back Solution 5.4.2.4 Bülent: Seeking Refuge from Discrimination and Economic Hardship 5.4.3 Trajectories: Ability, Motivation, and Resource Mobilization 5.5 Entering a Teacher’s Position: Opportunities for TIOs 5.5.1 Analytical Tools 5.5.2 Case Studies 5.5.2.1 Mayra: In the Hands of a Bureaucratic System 5.5.2.2 Ceren: Fitting in the Ethnic Niche 5.5.2.3 Dilek: Relying On Her Professional Network 5.5.3 Institutional Channelling 5.6 Being a TIO: Interpreting the Teaching Role 5.6.1 Analytical Tools 5.6.2 Case Studies 5.6.2.1 Evren: Magister By Conviction 5.6.2.2 Raquel: Magister By Necessity 5.6.2.3 Sultan: A Self-Appointed Mediator Who Enjoys Double Legitimacy 5.6.2.4 Azize Bahar: Role Model Challenged in Her Professional Identity 5.6.2.5 Aldin: Token Other, Contested as a TIO in a Majority School 5.6.2.6 Harun: Appointed as Mediator Yet Contested as a TIO in a Minority School 5.6.3 Constraints and Opportunities Framing Agency 5.7 Conclusions References Chapter 6: Becoming Elite in an Egalitarian Context: Pathways to Law and Medicine Among Norway’s Second-Generation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The Norwegian Context 6.3 Accessing Law and Medicine in Norway: Standard and Alternative Routes 6.4 Closure Mechanisms in Elite Professions: What Room Is There for the Second Generation? 6.5 Data and Methodology 6.6 Institutional Barriers and Opportunities in Law and Medicine 6.7 Second-Generation Pathways to Degrees in Law 6.8 Second-Generation Pathways to Degrees in Medicine 6.9 Ethnicity as Burden and Resource in Law and Medicine 6.9.1 Burdens of Belonging to a Minority 6.9.2 Ethnicity as a Resource 6.10 Conclusion References Chapter 7: New Social Mobility: Pioneers and Their Potentials for Change 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Pioneers and Agents of Change 7.3 Theoretical Concepts and Advances in Building a Framework for New Social Mobility 7.4 A Strategy for Success: Building-Up Capital ‘On the Way’ 7.5 The Paradoxes of New Social Mobility 7.6 Overlooked Potentials 7.7 Why Do We Speak of New Social Mobility? 7.8 The COVID-19 Pandemic and New Social Mobility References This open access book comparatively analyses intergenerational social mobility in immigrant families in Europe. It is based on qualitative in-depth research into several hundred biographies and professional trajectories of young people with an immigrant working-class background, but raised in Europe who made it into high-prestige professions. These biographies were collected and analysed by a consortium of researchers in nine European countries from Norway to Spain. Through these analyses, the book explores the possibilities of cross-country comparisons of how trajectories are related to different institutional arrangements at the national and local level. The analysis uncovers the interaction effects between structural/institutional settings and specific individual factors and family backgrounds, and how these successful individuals responsed to and navigated through sector-specific pathways into high-skilled professions, such as becoming a lawyer or a teacher. By this, it also explains why these trajectories of professional success and upward mobility have been so exceptional in the second generation of working-class origins, and it tells us a lot also about exclusion mechanisms that marked the school and professional careers of children of immigrants who went to school in the 1970s to 2000s in Europe and still do