Institutions, information exchange, and migrant social networks in Rome

Abstract

While a considerable body of work examines immigrant networks, inadequate attention has been devoted to understanding how networks regulate the relationship between immigrants and host institutions. A rich immigrant process may reinforce current power structures by providing a convenient buffer between the elite and challengers. Conversely, immigration may challenge the status quo. I employ social network analysis to examine three understudied immigrant groups in Rome, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, and Peruvians. I find that they have developed systems of problem-solving and sense-making that often interrupt their interactions with host institutions. The state tolerates this because it situates immigrants’ concerns outside its sphere of responsibility.

Keywords:

• Social networks
• integration
• Bangladeshi
• Filipino
• Peruvian
• Italy

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor David B. Audretsch for his guidance and comments. I would also like to thank Professor Giuseppe DeArcangelis, Director of the Research Center for International Economics at Sapienza (CIDEI), and Professor Andreas Pott at the Institut für Migrationsforschung und Interkulturelle Studien (IMIS).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a Fellowship in Italian Studies from the Collegio Carlo Alberto in Turin and by a grant from the Indiana University Graduate School.

LE ANH NGUYEN LONG is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Political Science at the University of Muenster.

ADDRESS: Institute of Political Science, University of Muenster, Scharnhorststr. 100, R 311 D-48151 Münster, Germany. Email: [email protected]