Social Networks and Institutional Discrimination: A Comparative Study of Recruitment in Large Organisations

Abstract

The project aimed to explore the role of various recruitment practices and unequal access to social networks has for the employment of people with foreign and Swedish background respectively. The study was based in two general perspectives on how inequality is created and recreated: theories on social capital and institutional selection / sorting. The project has studied the recruitment practices and career with an empirical focus on HR staff and, the people who have sought and obtained work. Methodologically, the project used both quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaires and interviews. The analysis focused on two issues: differences between persons with foreign and Swedish background in the access of so-called social capital and the importance of this social capital on individuals opportunity for employment; institutional mechanisms of selection. What are the effects of employers choice of recruitment channels (formal and informal) for employment? How are applicants ranked and sorted?

Keywords

Discrimination, Employment/Recruitment, Social capital/networks, Organisations, Segmentation

Publications

Behtoui, A. (2007) ‘The Distribution and Return of social capital: Evidence from Sweden.’ European Societies 9:383-407.

Behtoui, A. (2008) ‘Informal Recruitment Methods and Disadvantages of Immigrants in the Swedish Labour Market.’ Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 34(3, April):411-430.

Behtoui, A. (2006). ‘Om de hade föräldrar födda på “rätt plats”.’ Rapport Integration 2005. Norrköping: Integrationsverket.

Behtoui, A. (2009). ‘Social capital and Stigmatised Immigrants.’ Pp. 232-237 in Neergaard, A. (ed),European Perspectives on Exclusion and Subordination, The Political Economy of Migration. Maaschtrict: Shaker.

Behtoui, Alireza (2010). ‘Marriage Patterns of Immigrants in Sweden’, Journal of Comparative Family Studies 41 (3):415-435

Behtoui, A. & Neergaard, A. (2009). ‘Perception of discrimination in recruitment and place of work.’ Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies 7:374-369.

Behtoui, A. & Neergaard, A. (2010). ‘Social capital and wage differentials between immigrants and natives.’ Work, Employment and Society 24:1-19.

Gunnarsson, E., Neergaard, A., & Nilsson, A. (Eds.). (2006). Kors & tvärs: Intersektionalitet och makt i storstadens arbetsliv. Stockholm: Normal Förlag.

Neergaard, A. (2006). ‘I goda och dåliga tider: inkluderad underordning av invandrade kvinnor.’ In D. Mulinari & N. Räthzel (Eds.), Bortom etnicitet (pp. 43-54). Umeå: Boréa.

Neergaard, A. (2006). ‘På tröskeln till lönearbete: Centrala begrepp och antologins innehåll.’ In A. Neergaard (Ed.), På tröskeln till lönearbete: Diskriminering och exkludering av personer med utländsk bakgrund, SOU 2006:60 (pp. 9-39). Stockholm: Fritzes.

Neergaard, A. (Ed.). (2006). På tröskeln till lönearbete: Diskriminering, exkludering och underordning av personer med utländsk bakgrund, SOU 2006:60. Stockholm: Fritzes.

Neergaard, A. (2006). ‘Rasifierad rekrytering i storstadskommunen: Mellan exkluderad och inkluderad underordning.’ In E. Gunnarsson, A. Neergaard & A. Nilsson (Eds.), Kors & tvärs: Intersektionalitet och makt i storstadens arbetsliv (pp. 164-184). Stockholm: Normal förlag.

Neergaard, A. (2006). ‘Rekrytering: som en institutionell praktik för inkluderad och exkluderad underordning.’ In A. Neergaard (Ed.), På tröskeln till lönearbete: Diskriminering och exkludering av personer med utländsk bakgrund, SOU 2006:60 (pp. 221-260). Stockholm: Fritzes.

Neergaard, A. (2006). ‘Sammanfattning och slutsatser: Strukturell diskriminering som en väv av samverkande processer, praktiker och strategier.’ In A. Neergaard (Ed.), På tröskeln till lönearbete: Diskriminering och exkludering av personer med utländsk bakgrund, SOU 2006:60 (pp. 261-285). Stockholm: Fritzes.

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

Neergaard, A. (2009). ‘Racialisation in the Labour Market: In Search of a Theoretical Understanding.’ In A. Neergaard (Ed.), European Perspectives on Exclusion and Subordination : The Political Economy of Migration (pp. 201-221). Maastricht: Shaker Publishing BV.