Iraklis Dimitriadis

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) (Rtda) at Scuola Normale Superiore

Research on the labour market insertion of young migrants has largely centered on the reltionships between education, unemployment, and occupational attainment across different ethnic groups. Meanwhile, youth studies have explored the transition to adulthood, intergenerational disadvantage, and the strategies adopted by young migrants to shape thei...

In this exploratory study, we investigate the effects of digital labour platforms (DLPs) on cleaning workers. The prevalence of informality in this sector leads us to suggest analysing workers' experiences by combining the literature on DLPs with that on the informal economy. Through in-depth interviews with cleaners in Milan and Rome, as well as D...

https://sisec.it/convegni/ix-convegno-sisec-pavia-2025/ IX Convegno SISEC – PAVIA 2025 Visibili e invisibili nel capitalismo che cambia: imprese, lavoro, territori e politiche 29 gennaio - 1 febbraio 2025

Migrants’ access to the national territory is filtered through categorisation processes that entangle the legal–administrative statuses produced by immigration controls with stratified access to social and political rights, representing a form of internal bordering. Drawing upon qualitative data on Civil Society Actors (CSAs) who provide services t...

This paper focuses on the experiences of rejected asylum-seekers (RAS) caught in their everyday lives between deportation threat and mechanisms of irregularization. We analyze their everyday lives in Italy and Germany, two EU member states facing the non-deporability of RAS in different ways according to the specificity of their labour market force...

Call for papers: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/calls-for-papers/informal-economy-and-digital-labour-platforms-opportunities-risks-and-challenges

Purpose This article aims to explore the engagement of refugees and asylum seekers (RAS) in informal and precarious jobs from a civil society actors' perspective. Despite a burgeoning literature on refugee integration and a focus on institutional integration programmes, little is known about the early insertion of RAS into informal and precarious e...

Studies on the framing of the refugee crisis have focused on media and political discourses , revealing contrasting views and an increasing politicization of immigration. However, the framing-of-asylum discourse in relation to the reception and settlement of asylum seekers in local communities has so far received less attention, especially when con...

This chapter deals with the exceptional case of immigrant religious assimilation in Greece. Within the European context of immigration countries characterised by ongoing secularisation process and immigrant assimilation towards natives’ values and attitudes, Greece is considered as a particular case because of the tendency of immigrants to assimila...

Il saggio affronta il tema della «rifugiatizzazione» dei senza dimora a partire da un contesto di particolare interesse: la città di Como, un luogo di confine dove la presenza di rifugiati, soprattutto se senza dimora, ha catalizzato le paure dei cittadini e delle Istituzioni pubbliche. A fronte di un’avversione diffusa, una parte della società civ...

https://discoversociety.org/2023/03/30/albanian-migration-to-the-uk-changing-migration-routes-in-turbulent-times-and-the-criminalisation-of-asylum-seekers/

This article comparatively examines forms of (im)mobility among refugees and asylum seekers (RAS) in coping with dispersal process, restrictive migration policies and local socio-economic characteristics in three cities of Northern Italy. Drawing on qualitative data, it sheds light on the everyday forms of (im)mobility of RAS to resist structural b...

This chapter presents some characteristics of the contexts where fieldwork was conducted. First, it offers a brief historical account of Albanian emigration, pointing out contemporary migration patterns, processes, and trends. Second, it provides a snapshot of immigration policies and integration processes in Italy and Greece, as well as some infor...

This chapter examines the effects of unemployment and precariousness on men’s personal identities and how these shape migrant (workers’) agency and relations within families. Drawing on the theoretical debate on job loss and masculinity that deals with the ways that unemployment affects men’s understandings of the self and family structures and rel...

This chapter aims to shed light on migrant construction workers’ agency by focusing on settled Albanians in Italy and Greece who are employed in the residential sector. Both contexts are characterised by the prevalence of substandard employment and informal working arrangements, which have been accentuated due to the economic downturn since 2008. B...

Based on original qualitative research data, this chapter explores the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on settled migrant construction workers and their families in Italy and Greece, as well as their coping practices. Surprisingly, the COVID-19 crisis had different effects on builders’ lives than those caused by the Great Recession, as the recovery o...

This chapter explores the ways in which Albanian migrant builders and their families cope with the effects of the Great Recession, looking beyond the notion of labour agency. It examines the practices of people who remained in the host country and those who considered to undertake or adopted mobility practices. In doing so, it sheds light on the re...

This article elaborates on the activities developed by various actors from the civil society in favour of non-deported refused asylum seekers (NDRAS) through the lens of ‘de-bordering solidarity’. Drawing on qualitative data collected in two small Italian cities ruled by anti-immigrant coalitions, this study explores the rationales and outcomes of...

Drawing upon qualitative data on Albanians residing in Italy and Greece, this article furnishes new insights into the topic of undeclared migrant construction workers’ agency. It analyses different types of undeclared work through Katz’s theoretical framework that suggests a disaggregated conceptualisation of agency. In so doing, it adds to thinkin...

The multi-level governance (MLG) approach is widely used to understand the complex processes of immigration policymaking. In this literature review, we consider both (i) the vertical dimension of MLG: the local, regional, national, European, or even global level; and (ii) the horizontal dimension of MLG: the relations between public and non-public...

The subject of naturalisation among intra-EU migrants has only recently drawn the attention of social science scholars. Empirical evidence from quantitative studies shows an increase in citizenship applications among this new wave of mobile people, indicating a strategic use of naturalisation. However, there is not a great deal of micro-level resea...

In recent decades, scholars have been increasingly interested in analysing immigrants’ religiosity in Europe. In this article, we provide evidence about how the patterns of religious transmission are shaped by religious characteristics of both the origin and receiving contexts. We do so by focusing on Italy, which is both an almost homogeneously Ca...

Considering onward migration aspirations of Albanian migrants in Italy and Greece, this article investigates the reproduction of transnational practices in relation to preferred destinations before new settlements take place. Drawing on qualitative data, it introduces the concept of explorative transnational practices and sheds light on the interpl...

In suggesting that imaginaries may orient onward migration, this chapter explores work- and life-related subjective representations that may inform desires to leave the initial destination, or decisions for staying put. Empirical evidence comes from a qualitative study on Albanian migrant construction workers who resided in Milan and Athens during...

Questo capitolo si focalizza sui risultati del progetto di ricerca Horizon 2020 “Growth, Equal Opportunities, Migration and Markets” (GEMM) per cui sono state condotte 41 interviste in profondità con cittadini italiani, residenti a Londra e Berlino. Il capitolo analizza quali riposizionamenti, sul piano identitario, caratterizzino le traiettorie es...

Whilst most of the research on intra-EU mobility has mainly focused on the reasons behind young Southern Europeans leaving their home countries, and secondly on their experiences within the new context, little is known about their sense of belonging and identities. This article aims to fill this gap by exploring Italian and Spanish migrants’ social...

This paper explores Italian and Spanish migrants’ experiences and imaginaries of home country labour markets as part of their motivations to migrate during the economic crisis. It argues that precarious employment conditions and images of dysfunctional labour markets drive them to leave Italy and Spain. Besides personal experiences also images tran...

Il progetto studia le innovazioni organizzative per il miglioramento dei processi produttivi e della qualità del lavoro nelle aziende manifatturiere venete in via di automatizzazione. PReST si sviluppa nell’ambito di specializzazione intelligente Smart manufacture, nella macro-traiettoria “Spazi di lavoro innovativi e inclusivi” e nella traiettoria...

This is the second overview of country-specific literature on the theme of migration in the EU covering the six countries taking part in GEMM Workpackage 4 ‘The lived experiences of migration’: UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Romania. The first literature review focused on the individual factors for migration such as gender, ethnicity and a...

Once in the destination country, migrants face the challenge of adapting to a new socio-economic, political and cultural context. Interacting with the institutions of the new society, searching for jobs in a tough labour market or trying to develop their occupational career, maintaining old and creating new social ties, reshaping feelings of belong...

Comparative Report: Individual factors for migration and migration channels A major ingredient of the transformative processes in present-day Europe is the mobility of human capital. One of the major challenges continuously facing the EU is how best to manage labour migration in the context of population ageing and global competition for skills (OE...

Comparative Report: Individual factors for migration and migration channels A major ingredient of the transformative processes in present-day Europe is the mobility of human capital. One of the major challenges continuously facing the EU is how best to manage labour migration in the context of population ageing and global competition for skills (OE...

In contrast to the main body of literature focusing on irregular migrants' counterstrategies, this article explores regular migrant workers' practices to renew their residence permit in an attempt to circumvent structural hurdles due to the restrictive Italian legislative framework. Studying migrants' agency in a socioeconomic context, characterize...

The Italian Society for Economic Sociology organizes its first Conference in Rome at the Sapienza University (Rome - Sapienza University of Rome 26-27-28 January 2017). One of the sessions during the first edition of SISE Conference focuses on “The informal economy during the economic crisis in the European Mediterranean Countries”. The session aim...