{"id":{"repo_id":"helsinki","oai_identifier":"oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/358392"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/helsinki/oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/358392","repository":{"repo_id":"helsinki","name":"University of Helsinki","base_url":"https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Poverty and Work Experiences of Roma in Romania : A Study Through the Lens of Field, Habitus, Capital, and Anomie in a Roma Community in Romania","abstract":"This study analyzes the experiences of poverty and work among Roma in the context of post-socialist Romania through the lens of Merton´s modes of adaptation to anomie and Bourdieu´s concepts of field, habitus, and capital. The purpose is to investigate Roma remembrance of work in the former communist regime and explore how they navigate socially within the framework of current anomic Romania. The method of qualitative interviews is used in this study. Six semi-structured interviews included one with three participants and ten short interviews were conducted between February 2020 and November 2021. The interviewees were selected based on the criterion of remembering life during socialist Romania. The results suggest former regime nostalgia with the experience of life for Roma as “better then” due to provision of work and housing. In contrast, experience of a current inept government unable to provide work for the poor was prevalent. The analysis shows how Roma´s racialized habitus and low levels of cultural capital i.e., education, collides with structural ethnic racism, preventing employment within anomic Romanian work fields, with the result of Roma travelling and working abroad. This study suggests experiences of poverty coping strategies in the forms of “innovative” and “ritualistic” Mertonian modes of adaptation to the macro anomic context. The former through begging in order to survive and the latter on projecting the social dynamic of the former socialist regime's provision of work for the poor onto the local NGO. Thus, relying on the same social dynamic by “ritual.” Contrary to racist discourses on Roma as “being lazy” and “not wanting to work” this study shows unanimous positive work values among Roma. It brings the thesis to the conclusion that willingness to work exists but a clash of preferred governance of Roma and the requirement of cultural capital and neoliberalist entrepreneurship, aggravated by the anomic state of Romania, prevents Roma from labor market integration and thus escaping poverty.","abstract_html":"This study analyzes the experiences of poverty and work among Roma in the context of post-socialist Romania through the lens of Merton´s modes of adaptation to anomie and Bourdieu´s concepts of field, habitus, and capital. The purpose is to investigate Roma remembrance of work in the former communist regime and explore how they navigate socially within the framework of current anomic Romania. The method of qualitative interviews is used in this study. Six semi-structured interviews included one with three participants and ten short interviews were conducted between February 2020 and November 2021. The interviewees were selected based on the criterion of remembering life during socialist Romania. The results suggest former regime nostalgia with the experience of life for Roma as “better then” due to provision of work and housing. In contrast, experience of a current inept government unable to provide work for the poor was prevalent. The analysis shows how Roma´s racialized habitus and low levels of cultural capital i.e., education, collides with structural ethnic racism, preventing employment within anomic Romanian work fields, with the result of Roma travelling and working abroad. This study suggests experiences of poverty coping strategies in the forms of “innovative” and “ritualistic” Mertonian modes of adaptation to the macro anomic context. The former through begging in order to survive and the latter on projecting the social dynamic of the former socialist regime's provision of work for the poor onto the local NGO. Thus, relying on the same social dynamic by “ritual.” Contrary to racist discourses on Roma as “being lazy” and “not wanting to work” this study shows unanimous positive work values among Roma. It brings the thesis to the conclusion that willingness to work exists but a clash of preferred governance of Roma and the requirement of cultural capital and neoliberalist entrepreneurship, aggravated by the anomic state of Romania, prevents Roma from labor market integration and thus escaping poverty.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Domingo, Axel Marco"],"institution":"Helsingin yliopisto","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Helsingin yliopisto, Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta","University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences","Helsingfors universitet, Statsvetenskapliga fakulteten"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:56:14Z","subjects":["Roma","Romania","Poverty","Work","Anomie","Field","Habitus","Capital","Merton","Bourdieu","Post-socialism","Neoliberalism","Discrimination","Communism","Ceausescu"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["URN:NBN:fi:hulib-202305292201"],"render_values":[{"text":"URN:NBN:fi:hulib-202305292201","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10138/358392","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Helsingin yliopisto, Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta","University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences","Helsingfors universitet, Statsvetenskapliga fakulteten"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Domingo, Axel Marco"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Helsingin yliopisto","University of Helsinki","Helsingfors universitet"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Roma","Romania","Poverty","Work","Anomie","Field","Habitus","Capital","Merton","Bourdieu","Post-socialism","Neoliberalism","Discrimination","Communism","Ceausescu"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["URN:NBN:fi:hulib-202305292201","http://hdl.handle.net/10138/358392"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study analyzes the experiences of poverty and work among Roma in the context of post-socialist Romania through the lens of Merton´s modes of adaptation to anomie and Bourdieu´s concepts of field, habitus, and capital. The purpose is to investigate Roma remembrance of work in the former communist regime and explore how they navigate socially within the framework of current anomic Romania. The method of qualitative interviews is used in this study. Six semi-structured interviews included one with three participants and ten short interviews were conducted between February 2020 and November 2021. The interviewees were selected based on the criterion of remembering life during socialist Romania. The results suggest former regime nostalgia with the experience of life for Roma as “better then” due to provision of work and housing. In contrast, experience of a current inept government unable to provide work for the poor was prevalent. The analysis shows how Roma´s racialized habitus and low levels of cultural capital i.e., education, collides with structural ethnic racism, preventing employment within anomic Romanian work fields, with the result of Roma travelling and working abroad. This study suggests experiences of poverty coping strategies in the forms of “innovative” and “ritualistic” Mertonian modes of adaptation to the macro anomic context. The former through begging in order to survive and the latter on projecting the social dynamic of the former socialist regime's provision of work for the poor onto the local NGO. Thus, relying on the same social dynamic by “ritual.” Contrary to racist discourses on Roma as “being lazy” and “not wanting to work” this study shows unanimous positive work values among Roma. It brings the thesis to the conclusion that willingness to work exists but a clash of preferred governance of Roma and the requirement of cultural capital and neoliberalist entrepreneurship, aggravated by the anomic state of Romania, prevents Roma from labor market integration and thus escaping poverty.","Denna studie analyserar erfarenheterna av fattigdom och arbete bland romer i det postsocialistiska Rumänien med hjälp av Mertons anpassnings begrepp till anomi och Bourdieus begrepp fält, habitus och kapital. Syftet är att undersöka romers minnen av arbete under den tidigare kommunistiska regimen och utforska hur de navigerar socialt inom ramen för det nuvarande anomiska Rumänien. Som metod används kvalitativa intervjuer i denna studie. Sex intervjuer, varav en med tre deltagare och tio korta intervjuer genomfördes mellan februari 2020 och november 2021. Intervjupersonerna valdes utifrån kriteriet att de minns livet under det socialistiska Rumänien. Resultaten tyder på nostalgi från den tidigare regimen med upplevelsen av livet för romer som \"bättre då\" på grund av tillhandahållandet av arbete och bostäder. Som kontrast upplevdes den nuvarande regeringen som oduglig och oförmögen att erbjuda arbete åt de fattiga. Analysen visar hur romernas rasifierade habitus och låga nivåer av kulturellt kapital, dvs. utbildning, kolliderar med strukturell etnisk rasism, vilket förhindrar sysselsättning inom anomiska rumänska arbetsområden, vilket leder till att romer reser och arbetar utomlands. Denna studie visar på erfarenheter av strategier för att hantera fattigdom i form av \"innovativa\" och \"ritualistiska\" Mertonska anpassningsmetoder till den makro-anomiska kontexten. Den förstnämnda genom att tigga för att överleva och den sistnämnda genom att projicera den sociala dynamiken i den tidigare socialistiska regimens tillhandahållande av arbete för de fattiga på de lokala icke-statliga organisationerna. På så sätt förlitar man sig på samma sociala dynamik från den tidigare socialistiska regimen genom \"rituell praxis\". I motsats till de rasistiska diskurserna om romer som \"lata\" och \"ovilliga att arbeta\" visar denna studie att det finns en enhällig positiv värdering av arbete bland romer. Avhandlingen leder till slutsatsen att det finns en vilja att arbeta, men att en krock mellan romernas kultur och kraven på kulturellt kapital och nyliberalistiskt entreprenörskap, som förvärras av Rumäniens anomiska tillstånd, hindrar romerna från att integreras på arbetsmarknaden och därmed undkomma fattigdomen."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Poverty and Work Experiences of Roma in Romania : A Study Through the Lens of Field, Habitus, Capital, and Anomie in a Roma Community in Romania"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Helsingin yliopisto, Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunta","University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences","Helsingfors universitet, Statsvetenskapliga fakulteten"],"dc:creator":["Domingo, Axel Marco"],"dc:date.issued":["2023"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study analyzes the experiences of poverty and work among Roma in the context of post-socialist Romania through the lens of Merton´s modes of adaptation to anomie and Bourdieu´s concepts of field, habitus, and capital. The purpose is to investigate Roma remembrance of work in the former communist regime and explore how they navigate socially within the framework of current anomic Romania. The method of qualitative interviews is used in this study. Six semi-structured interviews included one with three participants and ten short interviews were conducted between February 2020 and November 2021. The interviewees were selected based on the criterion of remembering life during socialist Romania. The results suggest former regime nostalgia with the experience of life for Roma as “better then” due to provision of work and housing. In contrast, experience of a current inept government unable to provide work for the poor was prevalent. The analysis shows how Roma´s racialized habitus and low levels of cultural capital i.e., education, collides with structural ethnic racism, preventing employment within anomic Romanian work fields, with the result of Roma travelling and working abroad. This study suggests experiences of poverty coping strategies in the forms of “innovative” and “ritualistic” Mertonian modes of adaptation to the macro anomic context. The former through begging in order to survive and the latter on projecting the social dynamic of the former socialist regime's provision of work for the poor onto the local NGO. Thus, relying on the same social dynamic by “ritual.” Contrary to racist discourses on Roma as “being lazy” and “not wanting to work” this study shows unanimous positive work values among Roma. It brings the thesis to the conclusion that willingness to work exists but a clash of preferred governance of Roma and the requirement of cultural capital and neoliberalist entrepreneurship, aggravated by the anomic state of Romania, prevents Roma from labor market integration and thus escaping poverty.","Denna studie analyserar erfarenheterna av fattigdom och arbete bland romer i det postsocialistiska Rumänien med hjälp av Mertons anpassnings begrepp till anomi och Bourdieus begrepp fält, habitus och kapital. Syftet är att undersöka romers minnen av arbete under den tidigare kommunistiska regimen och utforska hur de navigerar socialt inom ramen för det nuvarande anomiska Rumänien. Som metod används kvalitativa intervjuer i denna studie. Sex intervjuer, varav en med tre deltagare och tio korta intervjuer genomfördes mellan februari 2020 och november 2021. Intervjupersonerna valdes utifrån kriteriet att de minns livet under det socialistiska Rumänien. Resultaten tyder på nostalgi från den tidigare regimen med upplevelsen av livet för romer som \"bättre då\" på grund av tillhandahållandet av arbete och bostäder. Som kontrast upplevdes den nuvarande regeringen som oduglig och oförmögen att erbjuda arbete åt de fattiga. Analysen visar hur romernas rasifierade habitus och låga nivåer av kulturellt kapital, dvs. utbildning, kolliderar med strukturell etnisk rasism, vilket förhindrar sysselsättning inom anomiska rumänska arbetsområden, vilket leder till att romer reser och arbetar utomlands. Denna studie visar på erfarenheter av strategier för att hantera fattigdom i form av \"innovativa\" och \"ritualistiska\" Mertonska anpassningsmetoder till den makro-anomiska kontexten. Den förstnämnda genom att tigga för att överleva och den sistnämnda genom att projicera den sociala dynamiken i den tidigare socialistiska regimens tillhandahållande av arbete för de fattiga på de lokala icke-statliga organisationerna. På så sätt förlitar man sig på samma sociala dynamik från den tidigare socialistiska regimen genom \"rituell praxis\". I motsats till de rasistiska diskurserna om romer som \"lata\" och \"ovilliga att arbeta\" visar denna studie att det finns en enhällig positiv värdering av arbete bland romer. Avhandlingen leder till slutsatsen att det finns en vilja att arbeta, men att en krock mellan romernas kultur och kraven på kulturellt kapital och nyliberalistiskt entreprenörskap, som förvärras av Rumäniens anomiska tillstånd, hindrar romerna från att integreras på arbetsmarknaden och därmed undkomma fattigdomen."],"dc:identifier.uri":["URN:NBN:fi:hulib-202305292201","http://hdl.handle.net/10138/358392"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Helsingin yliopisto","University of Helsinki","Helsingfors universitet"],"dc:subject":["Roma","Romania","Poverty","Work","Anomie","Field","Habitus","Capital","Merton","Bourdieu","Post-socialism","Neoliberalism","Discrimination","Communism","Ceausescu"],"dc:title":["Poverty and Work Experiences of Roma in Romania : A Study Through the Lens of Field, Habitus, Capital, and Anomie in a Roma Community in Romania"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:56:14Z"}