This document summarizes Andrey V. Rezaev's comparative analysis of the everyday life practices of transnational labor migrants in Athens, Greece and St. Petersburg, Russia from 2009-2012. The study used methods like observation, group discussions, interviews and case studies to understand and compare the experiences of migrants in both cities. Preliminary conclusions found that migrants' everyday life practices can promote both social exclusion but also social inclusion if transformed. There is also a need for more inclusive policies and language regarding transnational migrants.
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Comparative Analysis of Transnational Labor Migrants Everyday Life Practices in Athens, Greece and St. Petersburg, Russia
1. Andrey V. Rezaev
Comparative Analysis of Transnational Labor
Migrants Everyday Life Practices in Athens,
Greece and St. Petersburg, Russia
in 2009-2012
41st IIS World Congress,
Uppsala, June 10, 2013
ANO: InterComCenter. Russian Humanitarian Scholarly Foundation (RGNF) 10-03-
00911а/Г.
The co-Project with Greek Foundation CARI
2. Rationale,Objectives and Goals
• This is a multi/inter/cross-disciplinary project
oriented towards dynamic use of comparative
methodology in sociological studies and policy
analysis, and, second, the use of the most recent
contributions in contemporary migration studies
in Russia and Greece.
• The Project seeks to promote theoretically
grounded empirical research in transnational
migration.
4. Survey procedure
Time: 2009-2012
Research methods: observation, group discussions, semi-structured interview, in-depth
interview, case-study
Sample: observation - 10 persons in Athens and 10 persons in St. Petersburg
Group Discussion: 118 migrants in St. Petersburg, 93 migrants in Athens
Participant observation (2010 – Greece; 2011-2012 St. Petersburg)
Semi-structured interviews - 10 persons in each city
Stages of the study:
- 2009 desk research and a pilot project in St. Petersburg
- 2010 networking, observation
- 2011 scaling, studying value orientations of migrants
- 2012 Case-studies
5. The number of migrants in
Greece and Russia
Greece Russian Federation
Population, in
thousands
~ 10 800 ~ 145 200
Migrants, in thousands ~ 1 200 ~ 12 000
Number of migrants to
1000 citizens
111 82
• Migrants in Russia - 12 million people
• Migrants in Greece - 1.2 million people
6. Research questions
• The basic research questions of the Project:
• what are the similarities and differences in
everyday life practices of transnational labor
migrants in Athens and in St Petersburg during
the years of financial and economic crisis 2009 -
2012?
• Can everyday life practices be considered as a
barometer for participation of migrants in social
protests activities?
7. Paradigmatic turn in social
analytics
1. A number of recent and influential works of sociology deal with the
seemingly trivial phenomena of everyday life. The standard mass surveys
are being replaced by in-depth, interpretative, and qualitative procedures
that focus on the visual surface of society.
2. We observe a shift in sociological method from the quantitative mass
surveys that for many decades dominated sociological research toward
more qualitative approaches: observation, case studies, in-depth
interviews, the interpretation of „ego documents‟, i.e. spontaneously created
personal records of experience (letters, lifestories, family photographs), and
the analysis of the social iconosphere as a particularly interesting novelty.
3. The „third sociology‟ takes as its ultimate object of inquiry social events:
human action in collective contexts, constrained on the one hand by the
agential endowment of participants and on the other hand by structural and
cultural environments of action. (Piotr Sztompka, ISA Presidential address)
8. Theory, Methodology and Empirical
Analysis
• The theoretical and methodological part of the Project
sets out to discuss more general issues regarding
definitions of the major concepts such as “migrants”,
“transnational migrants”, “affirmative action”, “social
inclusion and exclusion” and so on, discussion of Post-
communist migration flows, incentives, trends, and
categories as well as migrants’membership and sense of
belonging. In order to be able to carry out this task, I
considered how the postcommunist period of Russia
provides a fruitful terrain for the study of migration by
challenging well-established paths in this area, and
bringing forth – among others – a category of migrants
hardly explored so far: students.
9. Theory, Methodology and Empirical Analysis
Part of the empirical analysis relies on data collected in St.
Petersburg in July 2011 - February 2012 by means of
ethnographic observation, semi-structured interviews, and
“informal discussions” (Roger Brubaker classifies informal
discussion as “variant of the focus group” yet given the
more informal and interactive nature of the setting and
conversation usually engaging friends or acquaintances, the
author puts it separately. See, in Rogers Brubaker et al,
Nationalist Politics and Everyday Ethnicity in a
Transylvanian Town Princeton University Press, 2006.)
with migrants from Vietnam. In total there were conducted
twelve in-depth interviews and six discussions.
10. Theory, Methodology and Empirical Analysis
The interview questions revolved around the following topics: reasons
for migration and experience abroad; first impressions in St.
Petersburg and Anthens; encounters with neighbors, friends,
colleagues, and strangers; academic life; jobs and opportunities;
administration and public offices; future perspectives; perceptions
about host and home countries; and leisure time and holidays. The
discussions covered similar areas, with sustained interaction between
the participants, who knew each other very well, some being
roommates who voluntarily offered to participate. In general, the
atmosphere in both interviews and discussions was rather casual and
informal. A limitation of this study is provided by the sample itself, the
absence of experts’ interview and shortcomings of comparative
methods. The Project is an attempt to overcome these and other
limitations as well as an attempt to prepare and to conduct a more
detailed field research in the future
11. Theory, Methodology and Empirical Analysis
In the preparatory phase of the Project three working
hypotheses were formulated. However, the questions
for the focus groups and the semi-structured
interviews were developed in a way which gives room
for the incorporation of unanticipated issues and
topics that might arise during the interviews.
12. Debate on Comparative Analysis in the Social
Sciences I
Classic approaches to comparative sociology
- The logic of comparison developed by John
Stuart Mill
- The Verstehende comparative practice of Max
Weber.
- Emil Durkheim: “Comparative sociology is not a
particular branch of sociology; it is sociology itself,
in so far as it ceases to be purely descriptive and
aspires to account for facts”
13. Debate on Comparative Analysis in the Social
Sciences II
Very general and concise definition of the
comparative analysis for this study
“Comparative socio-analysis encompasses a
broad range of practices that focus on the
juxtaposition of cases or aspects of cases to one
another, and the use of either inductive or
deductive logic in relation to those
juxtapositions, either to test theoretically
derived hypotheses or to produce bounded
generalizations and "rules of
experience."”( John R. Hall)
14. Opposing views: What is a “Migrant”?
According to Thomas Faist, “person who moves
from one country to another with the intention
of taking up residence there for a relevant
period of time. All those are migrants who
reside and stay abroad for more than three
months, be they primary migrants – those
migrating for the first time - return migrants, or
circular and recurrent migrants.”
Thomas Faist, The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration
and Transnational Social Spaces, Oxford: Claredon Press, 2000, p.
18.
Thomas Faist
15. Opposing Views: What is a “Migrant”?
According to the UNESCO Migration Glossary
The term migrant can be understood as "any person
who lives temporarily or permanently in a country
where he or she was not born, and has acquired
some significant social ties to this country." However, this
may be a too narrow definition when considering that, according to some states' policies,
a person can be considered as a migrant even when s/he is born in the country.
http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=3020&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
16. Commission on Human Rights Definition
“The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights has proposed
that the following persons should be considered as migrants:
(a) Persons who are outside the territory of the State of which their are
nationals or citizens, are not subject to its legal protection and are in the
territory of another State;
(b) Persons who do not enjoy the general legal recognition of rights which is
inherent in the granting by the host State of the status of refugee, naturalised
person or of similar status;
(c) Persons who do not enjoy either general legal protection of their
fundamental rights by virtue of diplomatic agreements, visas or other
agreements”. ( See, Gabriela Rodríguez Pizarro, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human rights in
A/57/292, Human rights of migrants, Note by the Secretary-General. 9August 2002 at
http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-URL_ID=3020&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html)
17. OpposingViews: Whatis a “Migrant”?
• “The US Bureau of the Census collects data on the number of
persons who change their usual residence during a 12-month
period. If the change is within the same county, the person is
a mover, if to another country, the person is a migrant.”
The United States Government
Migration. The Encyclopedia Americana International Edition. 1994 ed.
18. So, what is a “Migrant”?
For the purposes of our study, a “migrant
shall be defined as, “One who moves
from one place, to another, for a period
of time greater than one year.”
19. What is a “Transnational Migrant”?
“The movement of a person, or people,
from one nation, to another, for duration
of time, lasting at least one year.”
20. Social Exclusion
Social exclusion as a socio-economic
and political problem came to light
recently with the events in dense
immigrant housing quarters in Paris,
France. In spring 2005 immigrant families
from the suburbs or banlieues at the
periphery of the greater Paris started to
demonstrate their demand for a solution
to their exclusion from society through
weeks of rioting.
21. Defining “Social Exclusion”
“…literature has noted that there is no
clarity on exactly what defines social
exclusion, but it‟s range can include
poverty, lack of social integration,
economic exclusion, political exclusion,
and cultural exclusion…”
Madanipour, Cars, & Allen, 1998, pp. 76-78; Mayes, Berghman, &
Salais, 2001; Percy-Smith, 2000, pp. 3-5).
22. Defining “Social Exclusion” II
“Mandanipour et al. trace the use of the term “social
exclusion” to French social policy and Percy-Smith explains
that originally it referred to a “group of people living on the
margins of society and, in particular, without access to the
system of social insurance” (Madanipour, Cars, & Allen,
1998; Percy-Smith, 2000). “
“The editors of Social Exclusion in European Cities
observe that social exclusion is a growing trend across
Europe in the areas of employment, income, education and
health. In particular, they note that: “In many cities, these
changes are especially visible in the spatial concentration of
immigrant and ethnic minority communities and in large
areas with deteriorating environmental conditions” t
Ibid.
23. Defining “Social Exclusion” III
Ali Madanipour has cautioned that the
“combination of multiple forms of exclusion becomes
a spatial reinforcement of exclusion, pushing those
individuals to the spatial edge of society. At that point
Madanipour says the exclusion can become a
conflict between „the system and actors‟ and
continues: „In such dissociation, the marginalized
people and marginalized places undermine the
legitimacy and authority of these systems and
threaten to block the route to survival. Tackling the
problems of social exclusion becomes ever more
crucial, as these areas become scenes of riots and
social unrest‟”
Ibid.
24. Defining “Social Exclusion” IV
Researcher David Mayes has defined social
exclusion as “a “process” and as a “state” (Mayes,
Berghman, & Salais, 2001, p. 6). These two aspects
of social exclusion have a direct influence on policy
response. As a “process,” Mayes notes that once
social exclusion is evident in the life of an individual,
it becomes a “vicious cycle” from which exit is
difficult or impossible. “
Ibid.
25. Defining “Social Exclusion” V
After all of this, Mayes‟ simply concludes that it
is, “more efficient and effective to prevent entry
into this cycle than to combat the effects of social
exclusion and try to exit the cycle. Thus it is
Mayes‟ prescriptive suggestion that policy
measures to encourage social inclusion address
the issue of exclusion more accurately and
efficiently than a “prevention” policy strategy
against exclusion, which Mayes describes as a
“generic” approach to the issue.”
Ibid.
26. Defining “Social Exclusion” VI
Mayes‟ view is that, “social exclusion is a
broad term that allows member states to tailor
it to fit their needs, which he sees as a pro and
a con. His criticism is that “It does not impose a
particular social model on the
members…however that very vagueness
would enable states to do very little that was
new” (Mayes, Berghman, & Salais, 2001, p.
4).”
Ibid.
29. Preliminary Conclusions I
Transnational Labor Migrants
Everyday Life Practices both in St.
Petersburg and Athens potentially can
be called as a means of a social
EXCLUSION.
30. Preliminary Conclusions II
Although forms of these „elitist
exclusion‟ by the means of everyday
life practices exist today both in St.
Petersburg and Athens the
requirements and aspirations of a
modern society urge that practices
that labor migrants experience
everyday should be transformed into
means of SOCIAL INCLUSION.
31. Preliminary Conclusions III
Taking into account that everyday life
practices have a possibility for a
twisted/double role in the process of
social exclusion and social inclusion,
policy makers should have special
attention with regards to potential of labor
migrants, youngsters and adults, to take
part in protest movements .
32. Preliminary Conclusions IV: New
Language
Scholars and policy makers are in
need to develop new language for
understanding what is „transnational
migrants‟ in the time of globalization
that foster both internationalization of
education and regionalization of
education. (According to Bologna
Process documents, a student has to
study at least on semester in another
university)
33. Preliminary Conclusions V: St
Petersburg
There is lack of political will and real specialists
who suppose to formulate politics and policies for
transnational labor migrants. The policies in St.
Petersburg are dominated by economic
rationalism and instrumentalism. Thus, those of us
who believe that quality of nowadays urban life are
not only necessary to promote but also require
constant actions must be willing to engage in the
difficult task of crafting laws and procedures (new
institutions).
