Being one of the few : Professionally successful descendants of migrants from Turkey

Drawing on data collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews in Germany, France, Sweden, and the Netherlands, this dissertation focuses on descendants of labour migrants from Turkey in leading professional positions. The dissertation explains how individuals from a disadvantaged group negotiate their individual background while developing their professional selves. There is a dialectical interplay between the achievement narratives, through which they present themselves as exceptional individuals from a disadvantaged group, and the actual experience of their steep social mobility. Whereas their narratives stress the role of personal characteristics and individual efforts, their experiences indicate restrictive national conditions that cause the emergence of alternative career paths. They are continuously confronted with the fact that their individual social mobility stands in contrast to the low-status of the group to which they belong. However, they turn the condition of in-betweenness into an important element of their professional self-conception. This is also visible in their place attachment and potential spatial mobility.