Katerina Katsarska, Miladina Monova
Papers of BAS. Humanities and Social Sciences
Vol. 5, 2018, No. 1
MECHANISMS OF EXCLUSION AND COPING STRATEGIES IN THE PROFESSIONAL REALIZATION OF YOUNG ROMA IN BULGARIA
Katerina Katsarska, Miladina Monova
Abstract. This article examines the professional trajectories of young Roma with low to higher levels of education at the beginning of their professional career, working in construction, in the medical field and in public administration. Following an interactionist approach to understanding early-careers trajectories, we investigate peoples’ experiences, with emphasis on individuals’ narratives. The aim is to identify the mechanisms for coping with discrimination in professional life and in concrete situations, with a focus on how different actors manage to negotiate and sometimes overcome practices of exclusions. At the microsociological level of small group interaction, we show the complex dynamics and processes of exclusion/inclusion that remain invisible or ignored at the level of public discourse and in the context of prevailing discriminatory practices.
Keywords: Roma, labour, education, discrimination, interactionism