Social Capital, Political Participation and Migration in Europe

Immigrant collective civic action: Integrating group resilience into the social identity model of collective action

“…As Sampson et al (2005) point out, the concept of collective action has privileged a narrow form of struggle over other forms of collective engagement, but there has been a shift in the form of movements in recent decades (McAdam, Sampson, Weffer‐Elizondo, & MacIndoe, 2005), which should be recognised and taken into account. Deepening the understanding of the immigrants' experience in taking active part in the social and political life of their communities. Since immigrants' societal inclusion is a complex process that involves immigrants' individual characteristics, immigrants' group features, and the receiving society's characteristics—that is, policy, attitudes, political structures, and opportunities (Schlumbohm, 2013)—the dynamics of engagement in collective civic action should be studied looking not only for commonalities with the receiving population but also for specificities. Research should clarify the role of the specific social contexts in shaping immigrants' opportunities and hindrances, acknowledging both the structural forces and the immigrants' agency (Preston et al, 2022), and also in promoting or precluding their involvement in collective civic action.…”