Conceptualising the social positioning of refugees reflections on socio-institutional contexts and agency with a focus on work

Abstract

Presently, European and other countries are facing public (and scholarly) discussions surrounding the possibilities of successfully integrating refugees into their respective national labour markets. Such debates often disregard the complex circumstances under which refugees are received in a given nationstate. For this conceptually oriented article, we draw on the example of Austria as a receiving state, as it shares many characteristics with other receiving nation-states in the global north. Theoretically, we base our argument on the assumption that societies are socially unequal. Such inequality is institutionally co-constructed, as we will show in this article. Yet empirical examples assist in understanding how refugees are also actors who are not only exposed to such institutional and varying social environments. Rather, they also reinforce and/or change these circumstances by their own agency.

Migration, Urbanity and Cosmopolitanism in a Globalized World: An Introduction

“…We contend that despite structurally unequal settings, migrants and even refugees can contribute to social change, even if their methodological victimization often prevents us from seeing the transformative impact of their presence in both host, transit and origin countries. They do so through everyday and subtle forms of participation, production and even subversion in workplaces (Scheibelhofer 2019) and private and public places (see Thiollet and Assaf,Chap. 12,in this book).…”

Conquering the labour market: the socioeconomic enablement of refugee women in Austria

“…A powerful and frequently applied approach for capturing the individual dimension of integration processes is the concept of agency (Piętka-Nykaza, 2015;Obschonka et al, 2018;Ozkaleli, 2018;Scheibelhofer, 2019;Verwiebe et al, 2019). Agency describes the potential to act and decide freely, that is, people's "double capacity to be reflexive about their situation […] and to act upon it 'to make a difference'" (Zanoni & Janssens, 2007: 1376.…”

“…This process is influenced by the prevalent structures constituting barriers to refugees' agency (Piętka-Nykaza, 2015). Recent studies have outlined the agencies most relevant to refugee labour market entry in Austria, including proactivity, subjective willingness to overcome barriers and to start a new career from scratch, geographical mobility, professional flexibility and the ability to discover and seize opportunities (Verwiebe et al, 2019), and have emphasised the influence of agency on social positioning (Scheibelhofer, 2019). Refugee women's narratives are stories of emancipation or, using a concept developed in feminist discourse, empowerment.…”

Dynamiques identitaires et sens d’un projet de formation au cours de la procédure d’asile

“…Toutefois, ils ne bénéficient ni de conseil en orientation, ni de soutien financier, ce qui a pour conséquence qu'une formation en dehors des cours à bas seuil leur est presque inaccessible en pratique. Nombreux sont les travaux qui interrogent les politiques de prise en charge des demandeurs d'asile dans les différents pays européens (Agier, 2002 ;Caloz-Tschopp, 2004 ;Laacher, 2013 ;Noiriel, 1991 ;Valluy, 2005) ainsi que leur impact sur l'accès au marché du travail et sur les dispositifs de formation (Bertrand, 2020 ;Scheibelhofer, 2019 ;Scheibelhofer & Täubig, 2019). En ce qui concerne les personnes récemment arrivées et soumises à la procédure d'asile, elles sont maintenues en marge de la société dans la mesure où elles sont susceptibles d'être renvoyées à tout instant.…”