Ecuadorian migration and family strategies of social mobility: dialectic relation between emotional and financial capital

This text deals with transnational strategies of social mobility in Ecuadorian migrant households in Spain. We apply the capital accumulation model (Moser, 2009) for this purpose. The main target of this article is, beyond thinking in terms of capital stock and accumulation, the analysis in depth of the dynamics of the different types of capital, that is to say, how they interact with each other in the framework of the social mobility strategies of the migrants and their families. We are bringing into light the way some households adopt investing decisions in capitals that don't translate into any addition or earnings in all cases, on the contrary, concentrating all their efforts on the accumulation of a certain asset they may, in some cases, lead to a loss of another. We will concentrate our analysis primarily on the dynamics between the physical and financial capital and the social and emotional capital, showing the tensions produced between these two types of assets. At the same time, we will highlight how migrants negotiate their family strategies of social mobility in the transnational area. Our study is based in empirical material obtained from qualitative fieldwork (in-depth interviews) with families of migrants in the urban district of Turubamba Bajo -(south of Quito) and in Madrid. A series of households were selected where interviews were carried out in the country of origin as well as in the context of immigration, with different family members, analysing the transnational social and economic strategies of families of migrant members. Family members of migrants established in Spain were interviewed in Quito, as well as key informants in the district (school teachers, nursery members of the staff, etc.). The research was framed within the projects "Impact of migration on the development: gender and transnationalism", Ministry of Science and Innovation (SEJ2007/63179) (Laura Oso, dir. 2007-2010),"Gender, transnationalism and intergenerational strategies of social mobility", Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEM2011/26210) (Laura Oso, dir. 201-1-2015) and “Gender, Crossed Mobilities and Transnational Dynamics”, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEM2015-67164).

Afectividad y creaciones estéticas: intervención social con jóvenes no cualificados

Los jóvenes no cualificados, que participan en los dispositivos educativos de segunda oportunidad, recorren itinerarios de transición al mercado laboral cada vez más complejos. Por lo que conocer sus expectativas y su capacidad de agencia resulta ineludible para mejorar nuestro acompañamiento como profesionales de la intervención sociolaboral. En este artículo exploramos la adaptación de esos jóvenes a una exigencia creciente de cualificación, que los está excluyendo laboralmente. Frente a este proceso, observamos que contraponen una resistencia basada en su capital simbólico, a través de la afectividad y la estética. Nuestro interés por estas respuestas nace de la desorientación percibida entre los profesionales de los programas educativos. Incapaces de comprender las trayectorias divergentes que estos jóvenes plantean, ante los itinerarios homogéneos que se les ofrecen para su inserción social. Tras el análisis de las creaciones artísticas y estéticas de los adolescentes, intuimos que hay dos factores que activan su resistencia a las limitaciones de sus expectativas de éxito. Por un lado, una variable institucional, que apunta a una deficiente planificación de los itinerarios formativos, que los jóvenes perciben que les aboca a la infracualificación y a un mercado laboral precario e inestable. Y por otro lado, una resistencia a la exclusión, que se enraíza en un imaginario de éxito y de movilidad social propio de una juventud globalizada.

Community social innovation: a view of experiences of housing occupation from the Social Work perspective

This work aims to reflect on the concept of social innovation, questioning its explanatory capacity for the discipline of social work. For this purpose, certain on-going debates with regard to this concept are examined and certain minimum dimensions are offered to enable an analysis of the social innovation strategies that certain affected groups implement to meet social needs. The approach is to construct «glasses» that permit an analytical engagement with new realities and with the strategies used by certain social groups to resolve situations of severe vulnerability. Finally, a case study is presented: a strategic group known as the Corrala Utopía that seeks to respond to severe housing problems and is developing in the city of Seville. The article highlights the elements of community social innovation emerging from the experience studied.

Immigration in Spain: Integration with Feet of Clay?

The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of the economic crisis on the integration of the immigrant population in Spain. The Spanish case is singular because during the years of intense immigration achieved a remarkable degree of socio-cultural integration. The paper argues that such integration it has been the result of the confluence of exceptional factors rather than the result of the policy making. From a mixed methodology approach, it shows that, during the period of expansion, two factors of the immigration contribute to their coexistence with native population: finding job and access to public services. But the economic crisis, with its impact in terms of job losses and austerity policies, expose the weaknesses of the Spanish model of integration.