Title  Du clandestin au citoyen européen. Quand les immigrés portugais font figure de travailleurs (France, 1962-2012)
Author  Inês Espírito-Santo
Advisor  André Grelon and Rui Pena Pires
Year  2013
Institution  École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Degree  PhD
Area  Sociology 
Keywords  Portuguese immigration, Labour, European citizenship, Memory Construction, Visual Sociology
URI  https://theses.hal.science/tel-00931035/document

Abstract 

This research critically examines the processes of categorization within Portuguese population, since it’s massive arrival to France during the 1960s. It therefore distinguishes itself from the classical theory of migration integration. A double perspective enables the exploration of the relative permanence of Portuguese immigration image in France throughout half century. On the one hand, a diachronic perspective punctuated by the entrance of Portugal into the European Union in 1986, and on the other hand, a synchronic one taking into account the current social frames. This is done through the analysis of the institutional and/or political discourses in addition to biographic accounts of immigrants collected through sixty-five interviews. In order to materialize the sociological objectivation processes, this research borrows the notion “focal length” from Optical System research. Furthermore to better identify mechanisms of memory construction a short film was created as a heuristic method. The intersection of varied textual and visual sociological tools illustrates the way in which attributed socially construed positive characteristics have produced a form of social closure for this population. Focusing on aspects related to social stratification, the analysis distances itself from
cultural approaches, raising awareness to the heterogeneity of this population. This heterogeneity has resulted in either internalization or refusal of the imputed image. Numerous factors among which; gender, migrant cohort and socio-professional position, influence such social behavior. It is shown that these opposing behaviors are reinforced by the intertwined current immigrant social position and the migration process that produces such position.