Sticky, Valuable, Contested: The Reputation of Migrants and Their Groups

The chapter provides some theoretical insights into the processes of defining otherness by adopting a perspective that combines the concepts of identity and reputation. The former is a very controversial concept, although it is applied in many disciplines, while the latter is a classic but long neglected concept of the social sciences. As illustrated in the first part of the chapter, the combination of these two concepts from the perspective of recognition processes is fruitful for analyzing both the intersubjective and the institutional dynamics through which the identity of others acquires certain connotations according to “positive” and “negative” judgments made in specific social contexts. The additional contribution of this perspective is precisely that of underlining the socially constructed and evaluative aspect of everyday recognition processes and the implications in terms of inclusion/exclusion of the other, as well as highlighting the non-neutral common use of representations referring to categories and groups in terms of access to opportunities and distribution of tangible/intangible resources. In the second part of the chapter, these theoretical insights are related to concrete examples taken from the Italian context and ranging from the situation of long-term immigrants struggling with tortuous integration paths, through that of foreign seasonal workers who follow circular mobility trajectories, to more recent and controversial cases concerning the reception of the so-called forced migrants.