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Immigrants' Identity Negotiations and Coping with Stigma in Different Relational Frames
Author(s) -
Valenta Marko
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2009.32.4.351
Subject(s) - mainstream , negotiation , sociology , immigration , identity negotiation , identity management , identity (music) , indigenous , ethnic group , social psychology , psychology , gender studies , political science , computer security , computer science , social science , ecology , physics , acoustics , anthropology , biology , access control , law
This research describes strategies that immigrants deploy in face‐to‐face interactions with indigenous locals and links these strategies to their relational frames and networks. By focusing on interconnections between identity management and network management, the author further explores some of the key trends already documented in the contemporary literature on ethnicity. The article also adds new insight to the analysis of stigma and identity by showing how self‐friend and self‐stranger relationships present different opportunities and limitations for self‐presentation. Network fragmentation—commonly associated with a weak degree of social integration—is not necessarily an indicator of unsuccessful integration or segregation; it may be part of a wider immigrant identity project, a way to cope with stigmatization, and an important precondition for integration into mainstream society.