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AbstractThis paper looks at the migrants' occupational integration process. Two main theoretical perspectives are tested: the first one (assimilation view) claims that in the short‐run migrants are penalized, but as they settle in the receiving country they get integrated into the host society; the second one (segmented assimilation view) claims that disadvantages persist in the long‐run. EU‐LFS and ESS data are described and modelled, in order to compare the labour market performances of migrants in four European old‐receiving countries (Germany, France, Great Britain and Sweden) and in two new‐receiving countries (Spain and Italy) both in a short‐term and in a long‐run perspective. We find that a) in the short‐run, migrants' labour market condition is worst with respect to the natives; b) this gap decreases with older migrants; c) the ethnic penalty disappears with the second generation, when they achieve a level of education comparable to that of the natives.
Policy Implications


Labour market policies appear to face a trade‐off: policies oriented towards the flexibilization could improve migrants' occupational integration, but such policies are also likely to increase the risk of poverty for the natives.

In the case of the Southern new‐receiving countries, a similar tradeoff could emerge for policies aiming at stopping the underground economy.

Concerning integration in the long run, our results definitely point to the importance of education. We would suggest policies oriented towards a full educational integration of the migrants' offspring, since such policies could eliminate the gap separating them from the natives.

Il lavoro studia l'andamento della disuguaglianza di opportunitŕ educative (Doe) di genere nell'Italia del secondo dopoguerra, e l'interazione tra questo e quello della Doe dipendente dalle origini sociali, intese sia come classe di origine che come livello d'istruzione dei genitori. Lo studio č condotto sui dati dell'Indagine nazionale sulla mobilitŕ sociale (1985) e dell'Indagine longitudinale sulle famiglie italiane (1997), e comprende 5 coorti di nascita decennali, dal 1920 al 1969. Si utilizza il modello logit cumulativo (logit ordinale) che consente di modellare insieme sia la disuguaglianza scolastica che l'espansione del sistema educativo. I risultati confermano in generale quanto giŕ noto in merito: la Doe di genere č diminuita, cosě come - in misura inferiore - quella legata all'origine sociale. Inoltre, le analisi mostrano che: a) la diminuzione della Doe di genere ha luogo ai livelli d'istruzione superiori, mentre nella scuola dell'obbligo persiste un vantaggio maschile; b) la diminuzione della Doe di genere č piů forte nelle classi agricole, dove le donne erano piů svantaggiate; c) a parte questo, la diminuzione č la stessa per tutte le classi di origine e per tutti i livelli d'istruzione delle famiglie di origine.

During the last 30 years or so, different theoretical and empirical perspectives have come to see economies as embedded in institutional, social and cultural structures. Such perspectives developed in contrast to the neoclassical economic paradigm of a rational actor isolated from his/her social and cultural context, as well as to sociological functionalism, which sees economic action as heavily determined by values and social-structural factors. The general idea behind these perspectives is that economic action is always shaped by institutions rooted in history, and by the structures of social relationships in which economic actors are embedded; with the consequence that the former cannot be explained without including the latter in the explanation. This article shows how this perspective is shared by the 'comparative political economy' approach, which developed starting in the 1970s especially in Western Europe, and the 'new economic sociology' approach, which developed a decade later in the United States. After reviewing the main features of both approaches, the article shows how Italian economic sociology has built a relevant research tradition. More specifically, it reviews the main contributions that this 'school' has given to our understanding of how modern capitalist societies work, especially regarding labour markets, welfare systems, local economies and industrial relations. The lack of a strong dominant and unifying paradigm has often been seen as a weakness of Italian economic sociology, as well as of economic sociology tout court. Yet this weakness has to some extent been turned into an advantage, since Italian economic sociologists have been more willing to cooperate with scholars in other disciplines and sub-disciplines and have also been more interested in entering new territories, from both a theoretical and a substantive point of view. Adapted from the source document.