Elena Sommer

Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS)
University of Bremen
Wiener Straße/Celsiusstraße(FVG)
PO Box 33 04 40
28334 Bremen
Germany

Room: M2030

Phone: +49 (0)421 218 66355
Fax: +49 (0)421 218 66353

E-Mail: esommerbigsss-bremen.de

Elena Sommer is pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Sciences and is specializing in the field of Life-Course and Lifespan Dynamics. She is member of the BIGSSS joint research group "Migration and social inequality: Opportunities for integration between institutions and the life course" funded by the Hans-Boeckler Foundation.

Dissertation Topic

Social Capital as a Resource for Self-Employed Russian-Speaking Migrants in Germany (working title)

Abstract

Labor integration is one of the core dimensions of social and economic incorporation of migrants. In the past, labor market integration of migrants primarily meant their integration as employees. Since the 1990s, the self-employment rate of migrants in Germany has been increasing. The scope of possible formal economic activities of migrants and the resources at their disposal result from the interplay of different factors. Social capital is an important resource for the selfemployment. Migration process leads to the restructuring of the social capital. In the destination country migrants often have a different access to diverse social networks than the host population. The access to different social networks strongly depends on the geographical location of migrants and can strongly vary for the same migrant group within the same destination country. The local structural framework, the scale of the city as well as the size of the migrant group in a given area have an impact on the incorporation pathways of migrants and can influence their self-employment strategies.

The dissertation aims at analyzing the role of social capital for self-employed Russian-speaking migrants in Germany. The central questions to be answered are: 1) What kind of social capital can Russian-speaking self-employed migrants gain from their social networks and which functions does it have for their business?; 2) Which impact does the local context have on the access to social capital of self-employed migrants?; 3) To what extent do social networks, their use and their functions for self-employment change over time and which social capital promote the long-term growth of migrants' business?

The theoretical framework of the dissertation focuses particularly on the concepts „Social Capital“ (Bourdieu 1983; Coleman 1988; Putnam 1993), „Mixed Embeddedness“ (Kloostermann/Rath 2001) and „Scale City“ (Glick Schiller/Çağlar 2009). The empirical research concentrates on economic activities of Russian-speaking migrants in two contrasting areas (Düsseldorf vs. Cloppenburg), where qualitative semi-structured interviews will be conducted with self-employed migrants from the former Soviet Union. In order to answer the third question it will be differentiated between start-ups (less than 5 years) and established businesses. In addition several former failed entrepreneurs will be interviewed in order to explore to what extent social capital can have negative effect on entrepreneurship of migrants.

Academic Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Michael Windzio, University of Bremen
• Dr. Markus Gamper, University of Trier

Research interests

• migration studies
• social network analysis
• urban development