Max Planck Institute for Religious and Ethnic Diversity - Göttingen, May 2012

The ethnic enclave of Lloret de Mar: a

personal network approach to investigate

mixed embeddedness and transnational fields

Project: Ref.: Profiles of Ethnic Entrepreneurship. (2010-2012). Perfiles del Empresariado Étnico en España. MICINN CSO2009-07057).

1. Introduction.

2. Propositions.

3. Mixed Methods.

4. The “transnational” ethnic enclave.

5. Discussion.

Profiles of Ethnic Entrepreneurship. (2010-2012). An approach to the

strategies, dynamics and transnational spaces of the small immigrant

entrepreneurs in the new economic context. (Funded by the Spanish

Ministry of Science and Innovation).

LLORET DE MAR: A CASE STUDY OF AN “ETHNIC ENCLAVE “

Participant observation (April – May 2010, April –May 2011, November

2011) & several meetings with representatives (association leaders, City

council …).

May 2011: 6 personal networks from Indian shop-keepers.

November 2011: short interviews in 60 shops in the main shopping area.

Moreover we collected 12 additional personal networks of Indian people,

both owners and employees, 3 Spaniards, 3 Moroccans and 1 Dutch

entrepreneur. This give a total of 24 personal networks and 1,080 persons

nominated.

IMMIGRATION From 0,5% migrant population

(1985) to 14,1% (2011)

1. Romania (809.409)

2. Morocco (766.187)

3. Ecuador (478.894)

… India (0,5%)

24% rate of UNEMPLOYMENT.

Local population: 40,000 (60% Spanish + Europeans + Latinos + Africans +

others) and becomes more than 100,000 during summer.

Lloret de Mar: 1st touristic destiny in Catalonia & 5th in Spain.

Mass tourism in Lloret is also called:

“Lumpen-tourism” /”Sun, sea, sand” tourism / “all-included” tourism”

/drunkenness tourism.

During 2011: 10 million tourists, 8.000 million dollars revenue .

There are 1500-1800 Indians in Lloret:

Sinds, Sikh and Punjabis

No previous historical contact.

Olympic Games

Displacement of previous local

“ethnic economies”

Moroccan, Pakistani, locals.

SOUVENIR SECTOR (80%) 1. Little economic (investment) and

human capitals (experience). 2. Unspecific, non-specialized sector:

▪ From t-shirts to bullfighter figurines.

▪ Great variety, flexibility and adaptation to new demands.

Project: Ref.: Profiles of Ethnic Entrepreneurship. (2010-2012). Perfiles del Empresariado Étnico en España. MICINN CSO2009-07057). IP. JL Molina González

EMPLOYEES Young male co-ethnics, non-skilled,

fresh migrants. Low consumption rates, low salaries

and long working days (> 14 hours). Social segregation + “circular migration” EMPLOYERS Early community and long settlement.

Barcelona (1992) and Andorra (15 years)

Most hold Spanish Nationality

Tenants and ownerships (>1) Integration + upward mobility.

1. “Transnational” ethnic enclave “There is not such thing as “ethnic enclaves” in Spain”

(Haller , 2004; Solé & Parella, 2005; Arjona & Checa, 2006)

2. Mixed embeddedness of owners

High proportion of Spaniards/Catalans + co-ethnics + low geographical dispersion index (“locals”).

3. Circular migration of employees

Low proportion of Spaniards/Catalans + High proportion of co-ethnics + high geographical dispersion index (“transnationals”).

4. Vertical integration with providers

Competitive pricing.

Participant observation – 60 short Interviews in shops.

24 Personal networks (45 alters) – 18 “Indians”.

50 questionnaires using position generator (social capital).

Geographical dispersion indexes

egodisp1= Ego-Michelle + Ego-Hillary + Ego - Craig + (…) /N

egodisp2= egodisp1 + Michelle-Craig + Michelle-Mum + Hillary – Angela …/N (N-1)

Enclave: a particular case of “ethnic economy” (Light, 2006)

“Permanent concentration in a particular spatial place of a

variety of ethnic enterprises with a significant presence of co-ethnic workers in a specialized economic sector” (Portes, 1981:290-91)

(…) possessing a sizeable entrepreneurial class with diverse

economic activities, and co-ethnicity between owners and workers and, to a lesser extent, consumers. But most importantly, they must evidence a geographic concentration of ethnic economic activities within an ethnically identifiable neighborhood with a minimum level of institutional completeness. (Kaplan and Li 2006:5)

Business type Percentage Indian

percentage

Local

percentage

Others

percentage

Souvenir retail

shops

40% total (26) 92% 8% 0

Restaurants

& Fast-food

shops

31% total (19) 31% 40% 29%

Liqueur shops 7,6% (2) 100% 0 0

Other services 21,6% (13) 15% 25% 60%

Total 100 100 100 100

Table 2. Percentage of businesses in the sample.

Spatial concentration + Sector specialization +

Ethnic co-workers + Ethnic Owners +

Ethnic clients / ethnic

Quarter - Ethnic solidarity (&

competition) +

Information and

opportunities flow + Institutional “completeness” +

Left: owners (N=6, 270 nominations). Right: employees (N=9, 405nominations).

Geographic dispersion differences (formula 1) (M owners = 5.58, SD = 1.15; M employees = 6.50, SD = .18; t > = -2.35, df = 8.38, p < .05).

“The providers are from Lloret, they are Indians. I

also go to different places to look for them,

Badalona or Barcelona. But I am not a big

businessman, I am not travelling abroad. The

Indians serve products from Catalonia, from my

own country, from France, Germany … I do not

import anything from anywhere. My shop is

rented; the landlord is Spanish, from here, from

Lloret (13H11JP).”

“Indians come because this is a joke. They do not

pay taxes and they steal” (Local Shopkeeper 1, Lloret de Mar, Spain)

“I am against to what is going on… But imagine an Indian comes and offers me 60,000€ straight away with a 5 years contract … I would take it! without thinking twice!“(Local Shopkeeper 2, Lloret de Mar, Spain)

“They live to work, we work to live”. (Local Shopkeeper 3, Lloret de Mar, Spain)

Some people are thinking in remigrating…

Some others to move to another country…

Most established owners are coping with the crisis negotiating better credit conditions with providers (not Banks!), closing more time and hiring less personnel. (…)

Danke!