Ethnicity, Gender and Social Networks in Informal Recruitment Practices

Abstract

In Sweden, 60-85% of all jobs are appointed through informal recruitment. The research has to a lesser extent focused on differences in the outcomes of different social networks with regard to ethnicity, gender and class. Questions about how information and recommendations are communicated within the social networks have rarely been studied. The project focuses on the relationship between the applicants and the information mediators perceived scope of action in strategies of network recruitment. What considerations are made when seeking job, and when recommending through social networks? What careers develop through recruiting via social networks and how these are affected by individuals’ social background?
The study is theoretically grounded in research emphasizing networks and social capital in recruitment, with an interactionist perspective. Three sub-studies analyze links between qualifications and work: The sample is composed of both low-and high-skilled people in jobs with both low and high qualifications as well as Swedish and foreign-born men and women. Semi-structured interviews and so-called network map are the main methods.

Keywords

Employment/Recruitment, Segmentation, Social capital/networks, gender, ethnicity

Publications

Gavanas, Anna (2012) ?Migrant domestic workers, social network strategies and informal markets for domestic services in Sweden?. Women’s Studies International Forum 36 (2013) 54?64.

Gavanas, Anna (2013) ?Svart och vitt i äldres omsorgspussel. Hushållstjänster och privatisering av äldreomsorgen i Stockholm?. In: Rena hem på smutsiga villkor? Hushållstjänster, migration och globalisering. Gavanas, A. & Calleman, C. (eds.) Göteborg & Stockholm: Makadam.

Gavanas, Anna & Calleman, Catharina (2013). ?Introduktion?. In: Rena hem på smutsiga villkor? Hushållstjänster, migration och globalisering. Gavanas, A. & Calleman, C. (eds.) Göteborg & Stockholm: Makadam.

Gavanas, Anna (2013 kommande) ?Elderly care puzzles in Stockholm; strategies on formal and informal markets?. Resubmitted and accepted for publication in Nordic Journal of Migration Studies. Special Issue: Glocalising Care in Nordic Countries, eds Lena Näre and Sirpa Wrede.

Mulinari, Paula (2012) ?Motstånd och fatalism. Läkares erfarenheter av rasism? I Arbetsmarknad & Arbetsliv, nr 4 2012.

Mulinari, Paula (2011) ??Man hjälps åt”: solidaritet, solidaritetsfällor och motstånd i hotell- och restaurangbranschen?. Arbete. Intersektionella Perspektiv, Mulinari, P & Selberg, R (red.) Malmö: Gleerup.

Neergaard, Anders (ed.) (2009) European perspectives on exclusion and subordination: the political economy of migration. Maastricht: Shaker.

Neergaard, Anders (2009) ?Introduction?. In European Perspectives on Exclusion and Subordination: The Political Economy of Migration. A. Neergaard (ed.). Maastricht: Shaker Publishing BV.

Neergaard, Anders (2009) ?Racialisation in the Labour Market : In Search of a Theoretical Understanding?. In European Perspectives on Exclusion and Subordination: The Political Economy of Migration. A. Neergaard (ed.). Maastricht: Shaker Publishing BV.

Schierup, C-U. & Ålund, A. (2011) ?The End of Swedish Exceptionalism? Citizenship, neo-liberalism and politics of exclusion:? Race and Class, Vol. 53(1).45-64.

Tovatt, Caroline (2008)”Arbetslivets osynliga dörrvakter” i Invandrare & minoriteter, 2008:2.

Tovatt, Caroline (kommande) Att erkännas och erkänna: Det sociala kapitalets betydelse i arbetslivskarriärer (prel titel). Avhandling. Linköping: Linköpings universitet

Ålund, Aleksandra (2007) ?Ungdom, social exkludering, kulturell agens? I: Burns, T.R., Machado, N., Hellgren, Z. och Brodin, G. (red.) Makt, kultur och kontroll över invandrares livsvillkor: Multidimensionella perspektiv på strukturell diskriminering i Sverige, Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis p.p.473-489

Ålund, Aleksandra (2007) ?Migration och socialt medborgarskap?. Nordisk Sosialt Arbeid Nr 4 2007, Vol 27 (280-294).

Ålund, Aleksandra and Reichel, Isak (2007).?Civic agency, market and social inclusion: The emergence of informal economy in the context of Swedish associations established on ethnic grounds? In: Erik Bergren, Branka Likic-Brboric, Gulay Toksöz and Nicos Trimikliniotis, International migration, informal labour and community: A challenge for Europe,