Organizational Discourse and Networks Within the New Swiss Labor-Migration Policy

In the recent years, the institutional context concerning the integration of migrants in Switzerland has radically changed. Rather than separating immigration issues from (un)employment issues, the integration model now favors an intersectional approach. This shift at the institutional level has consequences for the associational network, which used to focus on migrants and (un)employed people separately. Until recently, organizations working with migrants were focused on their cultural integration; integration into the labor market was seen as a goal to be achieved, still it was beyond the prerogatives of the associations. On the other hand, organizations for (un)employed people or precarious workers were missing the resources to tackle the particularities of unemployed foreigner (e.g. permits concerns or renewals). In response to the institutional shift, existing associations have strengthened a double perspective, thus taking into account the category of “unemployed migrant”. In addition, new associations have put the issue of the integration of migrants into the labor market at the core of their organizational project. This transformation raises questions about the type of actors involved in the integration or reintegration of migrants into the labor market. In what do they differ from organizations focusing only on either “migrants” or “the unemployed”? How do collaborations and partnerships evolve within this intersectional perspective? How are social categories of “migrant”, “unemployed” used in a context where all people aim at integrating into the job market? Our article aims at answering these questions through a discourse network analysis, which allows collecting details on (a) the meaning individual actors attach to their network ties and the network as a whole (b) an insider view on the social categorization of the beneficiaries within informal and formal discourses and practices (c) and the interdependence between the organizational actors frames and their visibility within and across sectors. Our analysis draws upon an extensive fieldwork conducted on the Social Solidarity Economy Sector in Geneva, we mobilize different types of data sources: interviews with stakeholders and practitioners, web content coding of organizations' websites and an organizational survey questionnaire.