Context Matters: The Varying Roles of Social Ties for Professional Careers of Immigrants’ Descendants

Abstract

Research on social networks of immigrants and their descendants usually starts from the distinction between ‘ethnic’ ties and ties to members of the population without migration background. In migration studies ‘ethnic’ ties are repeatedly associated with ‘strong ties’, whereas ‘weak ties’ – that are found to be essential for the access to jobs in the wider society – are associated with contacts to members of the ‘majority population’. Building on existing criticism of this narrowing dichotomy and looking at upward social mobility careers of immigrants’ descendants we question this group-related understanding of weak and strong ties. Examining professional trajectories of immigrants’ descendants in Germany, this chapter suggests shifting the focus to occupational contexts in order to understand better how and why different types of social ties can play an important role for their professional mobility. We argue that both the quality of ties and their ‘ethnic dimension’ are dependent on the occupational context with its specific institutionalized modes of access and recruitment. Moreover, different forms of ‘ethnic’ or ‘cross-ethnic’ ties develop a changing significance in the course of a career and over time; this makes it necessary to also look at the dynamics in careers and the occupational contexts. The chapter compares the role of social ties for the inclusion into two occupational fields: law and public administration. It draws on interviews with (mainly Turkish) immigrants’ descendants working in these sectors. While in the law sector mainly ‘weak ties’, which had been built up during university studies and in the course of later careers, proved important, in public administration ‘strong ties’ to relatives and friends were most crucial for the access to jobs. In both sectors, we can observe that ties to ‘co-ethnics’ become increasingly relevant for professional careers as people of immigrant descent gradually achieve higher positions.

Reciprocity Within Migrant Networks: The Role of Social Support for Employment

“…Migrating to Germany as a child, he had to endure some difficulties including not always getting selected for teams at school or some unhelpful teachers. Nonetheless, he was enrolled at a university to study law which is acknowledged to be a difficult and highly-selective trajectory (see the chapter by Lang, Pott & Schneider, 2022 in this book, for the educational context of law studies in Germany). At the time of the interview, he was getting ready for his last chance to take the state exam with the aim to become a lawyer, which he found very difficult and time-intensive education.…”

“…As previous studies show, a degree in law in Germany is quite difficult achieve as well as to find a job due to an implicit expectation of an upper middle-class background (e.g. Lang et al, 2022).…”

Becoming Successful in the Business and Law Sectors: Institutional Structures and Individual Resources

“…Further, we assume that specific resources related to one's 'migration background' may also become relevant for professional trajectories such as language skills, cultural competences or social capital in relation to the 'ethnic community' (Lang et al, 2018;Nohl et al, 2014;Schmidtke, 2010). For example, the social capital that descendants of migrants rely on when pursuing careers in fields where they frequently interact with immigrant clients is different from the social capital required for building connections in fields where they primarily deal with fellow professionals and clients without a migration background − yet both types of social capital are relevant in their careers (Lang et al, 2022;Keskiner & Waldring, 2022).…”

“…Comparing highly-skilled migrant descendants across the business, law and education sectors in Paris, Keskiner and Crul (2017) have shown that each sector values different forms of capital for reaching high status positions. Similarly, when investigating the access of immigrant descendants to positions in the fields of law and public administration in Germany, Lang et al (2022), illustrated the varying significance of 'ethnic' or 'cross-ethnic' forms of social capital.…”

“…Research on the labour market access of immigrant descendants regularly shows disadvantages (Brinbaum, 2018;Heath & Cheung, 2007) that are partly related to their social class background (Gracia et al, 2016;Kalter, 2011;Zuccotti, 2015) and provides evidence of hiring discrimination (Midtbøen, 2016;Zschirnt & Ruedin, 2016). More recently, a growing number of studies have investigated migrant descendants' access to and careers in specific established and more prestigious occupational sectors and examined the barriers they face (Keskiner & Crul, 2017;Konyali, 2017;Lang, 2019;Lang et al, 2022;Midtbøen & Nadim, 2019;Waldring et al, 2018). Yet the mechanisms that help or hinder immigrant descendants who have completed 'successful' educational trajectories in their efforts to find positions in the labour market that are commensurate with their qualifications, still demand closer scrutiny, especially by taking comparative perspectives.…”