COLLECTIVE ASSERTION STRATEGIES OF IMMIGRANTS IN SWITZERLAND

In this paper we focus on an often neglected dimension of immigration, the collective one. We explore two main forms of collective assertion of immigrants: (1) political mobilisation, which is no longer as dominant as it has been in the past; and (2) cultural mobilisation, which has become increasingly important over the last ten years. After the failure of a number of political initiatives at the national level, these new forms of assertion aim at the recognition of immigrants' groups at the local community level, which in the Swiss political system is a significant operational level that also has a wide symbolic resonance. We argue that these changes are due to the immigrants' experience of status inconsistency, which involves participation in the socio-economic field and exclusion from the political arena (expressed particularly in the lack of voting rights). This is a result of Swiss migration policy and the strucutre of political opportunities. Whenever a lack of socio-economic or political rights is increasingly unacceptable to the groups concerned, it seems likely that forms of social mobilisation appear. Two factors have produced this decreased legitimacy of the immigrants' status: (a) the prolonged residence in the host society, which should normally result in the progressive acquisition of a better socio-economic status and greater social rights; (b) the strengthening and expansion of the European Community - where most of the immigrants come from - reinforcing their symbolic and political resources in the negotiation of their status in the host country.