liu.seSearch for publications in DiVA
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • oxford
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Paradoxes of European free movement in times of austerity: The role of social movement actors in framing the plight of Roma berry pickers in Sweden
Linköping University, REMESO - Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and Society. Linköping University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
2016 (English)In: International journal of sociology and social policy, ISSN 0144-333X, E-ISSN 1758-6720, Vol. 36, no 5, p. 289-303Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the capacities of social movement actors (SMAs) and interest groups to negotiate responsibility, heighten issues of accountability and earn legitimacy from authorities and the wider public for the plight of dis-privileged Roma migrant berry pickers in the Swedish labour market. The objective is guided by a multi-sited ethnographical approach to data collection and analysis, which theoretically anchors in social movement frame analysis. The paper proposes that SMAs, in the face of incapacities of state and industry parties, generate the potentiality to leverage immediate humanitarian distress experienced by the workers and to accentuate their political and public visibility. Delimited by the internal organisational structure of a berry industry, partly operating behind informal employment schemes, future studies should devote closer attention in localising/identifying possible “back-stage” data-gathering settings. Policy-makers and special-interest organisations concerned with internal EU labour migration, labour standards and living condition issues, may consider the social and humanitarian implications of persistent responsibility ambiguities. The paper raises issues of informal work and forms of labour exploitation. The paper provides deeper insight into the societal nexus in which a “hard-to-reach group” of seasonal workers faces potential and actual exploitation.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2016. Vol. 36, no 5, p. 289-303
Keywords [en]
Sweden, Bulgaria, Frame analysis, Internal EU seasonal migrants, Roma berry pickers, Social movement actors
National Category
Human Geography Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies) Business Administration Work Sciences Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-134147DOI: 10.1108/IJSSP-05-2015-0057OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-134147DiVA, id: diva2:1068476
Available from: 2017-01-25 Created: 2017-01-25 Last updated: 2018-01-13Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Negotiating Solidarity: Collective Actions for Precarious Migrant Workers’ Rights in Sweden
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Negotiating Solidarity: Collective Actions for Precarious Migrant Workers’ Rights in Sweden
2017 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Precarious migrant workers are today an everyday part of the Swedish labour market. They often work under conditions of vulnerability, on temporary contracts and with few rights. This dissertation examines collective actions aiming to improve the precarious conditions of three categories of workers –discriminated, seasonal and undocumented. The collective actors examined in the dissertation are composed of formal organisations such as non-governmental organisations, organisations founded on ethnic grounds and trade unions, but also more temporary groups and networks. The analysis foregrounds contemporary societal, economical and legal transfigurations that create the conditions for collaboration among the actors and the negotiations which they conduct. The dissertation contains four articles. The first article, addressing the situation of discriminated migrant workers, scrutinises the conditions for the engagement of anti-discrimination agencies. The result of the study illustrates how the actors, as a consequence of state subsidies, alter their original course of conduct by becoming market orientated,which contributes to tensions in relations with other collaborators. The second and third articles focus on the situation of Bulgarian-Roma berry pickers in the 2012 harvesting season. Thesearticles illuminate on the one hand, the driving forces to their labour migration and the challenges faced in Sweden, and on the other, the emergence of different collective actions and their significance for the workers. The fourth article centres on two trade union initiatives for the inclusion of undocumentedmigrant workers. The article analyses the challenges faced by the unions as they seek to extend solidarity to workers who are relegated to informal work. The article also elucidates that this endeavour,nonetheless, may have the potential to transform the political identity of trade unions and, by extension through collaborations with other collective actors, open the doors of solidarity for precarious EU migrants. In sum, the four articles show that there is a broad range of collective actors who are preparedto assist precarious migrant workers and to negotiate and at best improve their labour market conditions.These actors face many and difficult challenges. However, as the dissertation demonstrates, their engagement has made the reality of precarious migrant work visible to the public, legitimised the workers’ needs and enabled them to claim their rights.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Linköping: Linköping University Electronic Press, 2017. p. 105
Series
Linköping Studies in Arts and Sciences, ISSN 0282-9800 ; 707
National Category
International Migration and Ethnic Relations Work Sciences Social Anthropology Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies) Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-134148 (URN)10.3384/diss.diva-134148 (DOI)9789176855836 (ISBN)
Public defence
2017-02-24, Hörsal K3, Kåkenhus, Campus Norrköping, Norrköping, 10:15 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2017-01-25 Created: 2017-01-25 Last updated: 2020-05-20Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(270 kB)372 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 270 kBChecksum SHA-512
0c050e2ec75308fb130b9184777d9deaa269f9958bc2dac6249050564f448f7311769d2ae49db57ca1c3d0fd910e8870f2a5d1be5457fcb0fe68f493b4e49f86
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

Other links

Publisher's full text

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Mesic, Nedzad
By organisation
REMESO - Institute for Research on Migration, Ethnicity and SocietyFaculty of Arts and Sciences
In the same journal
International journal of sociology and social policy
Human GeographyPolitical Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalisation Studies)Business AdministrationWork SciencesSocial Sciences Interdisciplinary

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 372 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 486 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • oxford
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf