Migrant networks and political participation: an Empirical study on a sample of Nubian Immigrants Generations in the Suez Governorate

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Sociology Faculty of Art Suez University

Abstract

       The current study aims to reveal the role of social networks in achieving mode of political participation for the Nubians of Suez. The study relied on the anthropological, descriptive, historical, and comparative approaches, using several methodological technics (sample social survey, individual interviews, focus group discussion, and observation). The study designed a questionnaire tool that was applied to a deliberate sample of (190 individuals) that included the three Nubian generations. While the in-depth interview guide was applied to a purposive sample of (twenty-four cases) in addition to five focus groups that also included the three Nubian generations. The study revealed a set of results, the most important of which are:
1-Social or economic challenges represent structural holes that impede participation in Nubian institutions and associations as well as the political process.
2-The greater the integration and interconnections between the various networks of Nubian immigrants in Suez, it will lead to more greater political participation.
3-There is a discrepancy between the Suez Nubian generations community and their modes of political participation, and this discrepancy can be understood according to the reference role that each social network exercises on the generations of Nubian immigrants in Suez.
4-The study revealed that the social networks of immigrants may play a contradictory and disparate role at same time, according to generational difference and disparity, as the cases of the first and second generations were linked to family and village networks, affinity and lineage, the network of Nubian institutions and ties in relation to their political participation. While the cases of the third generation used the network of modernization, acquaintances, and friends to determine the mode of their political participation.

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