The Italian Non-model: Integrating Immigrant Labour in Practice

This chapter aims to highlight the complexity of the Italian case in relation to immigrants’ integration at work. After an initial framing aimed at tracing the political and cultural directions that accompany these processes, an attempt is made to read the Italian case as the outcome of an encounter between market-based institutional logic and community-based institutional logic. These logics guided policy choices and favoured the development of a plurality of immigrant access to the labour market. Moreover, an attempt is made to find a point of contact between institutional logics and organisational practices that develop locally in the various integration contexts. Considering the examples of the village of Riace, and a case of the market insertion of female immigrants, we highlight the extensive use of arrangements that make institutional logics less effective and deterministic.