Migrant Construction Workers in Times of Crisis

“This exciting new book combines several innovative aspects: a sectoral focus on migrant construction workers; the tension between mobility and immobility in times of crisis, both economic crisis and the Covid pandemic; and the gender lens of masculinity in the context of unemployment and constrained agency. Taking as its empirical focus Albanian migrants in Italy and Greece, the result is a study which blends high-quality research with a lively and interesting narrative account.” —Russell King, Professor of Geography, University of Sussex, United Kingdom. This book explores how migrant construction workers in Southern Europe faced unemployment and precarious work conditions during and after the Great Recession. By drawing on rich qualitative data, it investigates the experiences of Albanian men within and beyond the workplace, and sheds light on the capacity of migrant builders to deal with economic hardships and the role of theirfamilies and masculine identities in shaping their coping practices. This book suggests a new framework for the study of coping practices among migrant (construction) workers, and adds to the study of integration processes in Southern European countries by comparing the narratives of settled migrants in Italy and Greece. This book also looks at the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant builders’ lives in Southern Europe. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this book is of interest both to students and researchers in the field of migration studies and those working in the fields of sociology, geography, anthropology, political science and economics. Iraklis Dimitriadis is a post-doctoral researcher and adjunct professor of the course “Welfare and Immigration” at the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Milano-Bicocca. He has a PhD in Sociology and Methodology of Social Research from the University of Milan and University of Torino (distinction Doctor Europaeus). He is part of the editorial board of the journals Frontiers in Sociology and Mondi Migranti.