Discrimination in times of crisis: the relationship between immigrants and real estate agents in Milan and Pavia

Journal title MONDI MIGRANTI
Author/s Andrea Membretti, Fabio Quassoli
Publishing Year 2016 Issue 2015/3
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 169-189 File size 76 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2015-003009
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

This article presents the results of a research - carried out in 2013 in the cities of Milan and Pavia and based on an experimental design - that investigates the relationship between real estate agents and foreign citizens. The analysis of the data – obtained primarily trough a telephone audit - shows how this relationship is characterized by the presence of ethnic-racial prejudices by those who act as rental market gatekeepers and how, in some cases, these prejudices turn in some kind of discrimination, or at least of differential treatment, to the detriment of foreign customers.

Keywords: Immigration, Real Estate Market, Discrimination, Italy

  1. Agocs C. (2002). Canada’s employment equity legislation and policy, 1987-2000: The gap between policy and practice. International Journal of Manpower, 23, 3: 256-276.
  2. Aigner D.I., Cain G.G. (1977). Statistical theories of discrimination in labor markets. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 30, 2: 175-187.
  3. Alietti A., Agustoni A., a cura di (2013). Integrazione, casa e immigrazione. Esperienze e prospettive in Europa, Italia e Lombardia. Quaderni Ismu, 2.
  4. Allasino E., Reyneri E., Venturini A., Zincone G. (2004). La discriminazione dei lavoratori immigrati nel mercato del lavoro in Italia. International Migration Papers (vol. I). Geneva: International Labour Office.
  5. Ambrosini M. (2012). Sociologia delle migrazioni. Bologna: il Mulino.
  6. Andersson L., Jakobsson N., Kotsadam A. (2012). A Field Experiment of Discrimination in the Norwegian Housing Market: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity. Land Economics, 88: 233-240
  7. Ayres I., Siegelman P. (1995). Race and gender discrimination in bargaining for a new car. The American Economic Review, 304-321.
  8. Baldini M., Federici M. (2011). Ethnic discrimination in the Italian rental housing market. Journal of Housing Economics.
  9. Baumann G. (1999). The Multicultural Riddle: Rethinking National, Ethnic, and Religious Identities. London: Routledge.
  10. Bosch M., Carnero M., Angeles M., Farré L. (2010). Information and discrimination in the rental housing market: Evidence from a field experiment. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 40, 1: 11-19.
  11. Boffi M., Tornaghi C. (2007). Atlante sociale di Milano. Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Università di Milano-Bicocca.
  12. Bovenkerk F. (1992). Testing Discrimination in Natural Experiments: A Manual for International Comparative Research on Discrimination on the Grounds of Race and Ethnic Origin. Geneva: International Labour Office.
  13. Choi S.J., Ondrich J., Yinger J. (2005). Do rental agents discriminate against minority customers? Evidence from the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study, Journal of Housing Economics, 14, 1: 1-26.
  14. Comune di Milano, Settore Statistica (2014). Dati statistici relativi agli stranieri al 31 dicembre 2013. Dati disponibile al sito: http://allegati.comune.milano.it/ Statistica/Popolazione/Stranieri%202013/10naz%20prev%202013.pdf.
  15. Daniel W.W. (1968). Racial discrimination in England: based on the PEP report (Vol. 1084). London: Penguin.
  16. Dovidio J. F., e Gaertner S. L. (2000). Aversive racism and selection decisions: 1989 and 1999. Psychological Science, 11, 4: 315.
  17. Feagin J.R., Sikes M.P. (1995). Living with racism: The Black middle-class experience. Boston: Beacon Press.
  18. Feins J.D., Bratt R.G. (1983). Barred in Boston: Racial discrimination in housing. Journal of the American Planning Association, 49, 3: 344-355.
  19. Galster G., Wissoker D., Zimmermann W. (2001). Testing for discrimination in home insurance: Results from New York City and Phoenix. Urban Studies, 38, 1: 141.
  20. Gargiulo E. (2012). L’«emergenza» dell’esclusione: il controllo locale dell’immigrazione nel contesto italiano. La rivista delle politiche sociali, 1: 89-116.
  21. Hakken J. (1979). Discrimination against Chicanos in the Dallas rental housing market: An experimental extension of the housing market practices survey. Division of Evaluation, US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research.
  22. Holzer H.J. (1999). What employers want: Job prospects for less-educated workers. Russell Sage Foundation Publications.
  23. Kirschenman J., Neckerman K.M. (1991). «We»d love to hire them, but...’: The meaning of race for employers. The urban underclass, 203: 203-32.
  24. LaPiere R.T. (1934). Attitudes vs. actions. Social forces, 13, 2: 230-237.
  25. Martiniello M. (1996). Le società multiculturali. Bologna: il Mulino.
  26. Massey D.S., Lundy G. (2001). Use of Black English and racial discrimination in urban housing markets. Urban Affairs Review, 36, 4: 452-469; DOI: 10.1177/10780870122184957
  27. Moss P.I., Tilly C. (2001). Stories employers tell: Race, skill, and hiring in America (vol. 6). Russell Sage Foundation Publications.
  28. Nielsen L.B., Nelson, R.L., eds (2005). Handbook of Employment Discrimination. Research: Rights and Realities. Dordrech: Springer.
  29. Oreopoulos P. (2009). Why Do Skilled Immigrants Struggle in the Labor Market? A Field Experiment with Six Thousand Resumes. Nber Working Paper, n. 15036. Cambridge, MA: Nber,.
  30. Pager D. (2007). The use of field experiments for studies of employment discrimination: Contributions, critiques, and directions for the future. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 609, 1: 104.
  31. Pager D., Quillian L. (2005). Walking the talk? What employers say versus what they do. American Sociological Review, 70, 3: 355-380.
  32. Pager D., Shepherd H. (2008). The sociology of discrimination: Racial discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and consumer markets. Annual Review of Sociology, 34, 181; DOI: 10.1146/annurev.soc.33.040406.131740
  33. Pettigrew T., Taylor M. (2000). Discrimination. Encyclopedia of Sociology. NewYork: Macmillan.
  34. Quillian L. (2006). New approaches to understanding racial prejudice and discrimination. Annual Review of Sociology, 32: 299-328.
  35. Quassoli F. (2006). Riconoscersi. Differenze culturali e pratiche comunicative. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
  36. Roscigno V.J. (2007). The Face of Discrimination: How Race and Gender Impact Work and Home Lives. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
  37. Saraceno C., Sartor N., Sciortino G., a cura di (2013). Stranieri e diseguali. Le diseguaglianze nei diritti e nelle condizioni di vita degli immigrati. Bologna: il Mulino.
  38. Scenari Immobiliari - Istituto indipendente di studi e ricerche (2012). Osservatorio Nazionale immigrati e casa, 9° rapporto, luglio 2012. Testo disponibile al sito: http://www.integrazionemigranti.gov.it/archiviodocumenti/casa/Documents/IMM_Osservatorio%20Nazionale_Immigrati_e_Casa_2012.pdf.
  39. Simon P. (2013) Discrimination against immigrants. Measurement, incidence and policy instruments. In: Oecd, International Migration Outlook 2013, pp. 191-230.
  40. Taguieff P.-A. (1999). Il razzismo. Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore.
  41. Turner M.A. (2002). Discrimination in metropolitan housing markets: National results from phase I of HDS2000.
  42. Turner M.A., Skidmore F., a cura di (1999) Mortgage Lending Discrimination: A Review of Existing Evidence. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press.
  43. Yinger J. (1986). Measuring racial discrimination with fair housing audits: Caught in the act. The American Economic Review, 76: 881-893.
  44. Zincone G., a cura di (1999). Primo rapporto sull'integrazione degli immigrati in Italia. Bologna: il Mulino

Andrea Membretti, Fabio Quassoli, Discriminare in tempo di crisi: la relazione tra immigrati e agenzie immobiliari a Milano e Pavia in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 3/2015, pp 169-189, DOI: 10.3280/MM2015-003009