(Un)suitable Difference: Ethnic and Racializing Differentiations in Recruitment Practices of Local Administrations in Berlin

In: Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Soziologie: Revue suisse de sociologie = Swiss journal of sociology, Band 48, Heft 3, S. 489-508

Abstract

Abstract
This article investigates the role of ethnic and racializing differentiations in recruitment practices of public administrations in a context of demands to employ more staff of immigrant origin. Drawing on a qualitative study of local administrations in Berlin, I show how figures of "(un)suitable candidates" are constructed, in which ethnic/racializing differentiations intersect with gendered and spatial differentiations. This serves both to justify low recruitment numbers and established routines and to showcase openness to diversity.