How Romanian Roma obtain social support in France? Beyond representation of homophily and network closure

La séance du Département de sociologie de Sciences Po, organisée par le CEE, accueille Tommaso Vitale, Associate Professor de sociologie à Sciences Po et directeur scientifique du master Governing the Large Metropolis.

Son intervention s'intitule : 
How Romanian Roma obtain social support in France? Beyond representation of homophily and network closure. Preliminary results of a mixed-method research.

Abstract : 

In this seminar, we will discuss some preliminary results of research on the sociology of Roma migrations, and issues related to sociability, Roma immigrants inclusion in the local urban setting, forms of social support. Whether presented as 'ethnic solidarity' or 'ethnic segregation' the idea that migrants' social world is dominated by tightly-knit, homogeneous, and supportive networks of kin and co-ethnics is common in scholarly and public discourse around migration, particularly for minorities with a history of marginalization, segregation, and stigmatization. We discuss this idea mobilising using data from the first survey of personal networks and social support of Romanian Roma migrants in France. Analyzing egocentric network data on Romanian Roma migrants in France, we will discuss "structures" of "personal communities", and then analyse issues and dimensions of social support, so to say who is contacted to ask for help and support. We will distinguish and discuss individual, relational, and contextual factors associated with the provision of support.

The main scope of the class is to see to have analytical and conceptual tools to discuss the relationship between contexts of strong marginalization and stigmatization and ties that bind. The hypotheses of ethnic solidarity, sociodemographic homophily, and network closure are inadequate to explain the way migrants obtain social support. We will introduce and discuss some of the main findings in the sociology of ethnic minorities, and notably, the concept of "networked individualism" in which autonomous individuals strategically maintain diverse and far-flung networks, combine bonding and bridging social capital, and mobilize different social ties for different, specialized types of support.