M C Pantea
Biographic Data
| ID | 19477 |
|---|---|
| NAME | M C Pantea |
| GIVEN NAMES | M C |
| FAMILY NAME | Pantea |
| SIGNATURE | PANTEA M C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Babeș-Bolyai University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3818-8673 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 51 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Politics of Work: Young Employees’ Awareness of Industrial Relations in Romania’s Call Centres
The business service sector, of which call centers make up a large share, has emerged as an important driver of growth in central and eastern Europe. This article explores how young employees in call centers in Romania interpret their labor market positioning, how they engage with the structures that shape their working lives, and how they mobilize values to make sense of complex labor processes and industrial relations. Based on in-depth, face-t…
Degrees of Doubt: Overqualification as a Blind Spot at the Base of the Knowledge Economy
Europe has the most educated generation in its history, yet an alarming number of graduates are overqualified. This paper explores the intersection between education and work from the perspectives of those involved in a sector that is prone to overqualification: the call centres of Romania’s thriving business service sector. Based on over 100 in-depth interviews with young people, human resource personnel, and managerial staff at different levels…
Crafting professional identities at the bottom of the knowledge economy a critical analysis of managerial discourses
In the context of labour arbitrage, Romania became home to an expanding nearshoring business service sector. Many graduates work in 'call centres': a generic term for various types of customer-oriented services associated with different employment regimes and company structures. This research examines the discursive construction of compliance to precarious work, largely centred on managerial perspectives. Based on in-depth interviews with manager…
Education-to-Work Transitions in Former Communist Countries after 30-Plus Years of Transformation
This paper reviews how young people's education-to-work transitions have changed since 1989 in former communist countries that have subsequently become full members of the European Union (EU). The sudden collapse of the command economies led to an equally abrupt breakdown in earlier routes into working life. Subsequently, the new independent states have reconstructed their education and training, and their market economies have developed. They no…
Precarity and the social mobility nexus for young Roma in vocational education and training
This paper aims to demonstrate the analytical potential of initial vocational education and training (iVET) in the debate on the costs of social mobility. It is based on extensive qualitative fieldwork with over 250 young people in Romania’s iVET (around 20% of whom were Roma). Central to the discourses of young Roma are the experiences of discrimination, the absence of a ‘vocational habitus’ and an awareness of credential inflation, despite the …
A new elite? Higher education as seen through the lens of young people working in innovative technologies
This research explores the significance of higher education among 53 young people from Romania who received prizes in technical competitions, mainly for innovations in robotics and IT. Findings suggest they held strong views on higher education. For some, the conventional roles of university were still, pertinent. However, opting out university or dropping out as a choice were unanticipated findings. This research tentatively suggests that – at l…
Parents as Gatekeepers? An Indirect Account on the Image of Vocational Education in Historical Context
Vocational education and training (VET) is high on the European agenda. This article adds nuance to the policy ambition of “fixing” parents’ views on VET. It is based on extensive qualitative research in Romania, with over 250 young people. An unanticipated finding was the “absence” of parents from the young people’s accounts, along with a tendency by the teachers and employers to blame young people for having “unreasonable expectations.” This ar…
You Can Change the World’: Young People and Youth Organizations Becoming Entrepreneurial
At the time social entrepreneurship gains momentum, youth organizations try to assume new roles: either by providing youth entrepreneurship trainings or by becoming ‘entrepreneurial’ themselves. However, these processes are not free of contradictions and unsolved tensions. The article highlights some dilemmas of the conventional discourses on social entrepreneurship in the frame of youth organizations. It argues that both youth work and social en…
Affirmative action in Romania’s higher education: Roma students’ perceived meanings and dilemmas
This qualitative paper explores Roma students' perceptions on the policy of assigning 'special places' for Roma in Romania's universities. Findings suggest that Roma see themselves as occupying a precarious social space, concerned not as much to hide perceived merit violation but to handle (alleged) inadequacies given by their stigmatized ethnicity
On pride, shame, passing and avoidance: An inquiry into Roma young people’s relationship with their ethnicity
Roma ethnicity is one of the most stigmatised identities of today’s Europe. An emerging discourse on ‘Roma pride’ aims to reshape this widespread perception, especially among the educated youth. Drawing on 57 interviews with young people with/in higher education in Romania, this article looks into their experiences of self-identification as Roma. On the one hand, this article identified a tendency for young people to move in a conceptual space, d…
Understanding non-participation: Perceived barriers in cross-border volunteering among Romanian youth
Previous research asked why people do volunteer, but rarely asked what makes them not to. When indeed this happened, in Eastern Europe answers were rather conventional attributions to the communist system. This paper revisits this statement by looking at the perceived present-day constraints likely to be responsible for young people's low rate of cross-border volunteering in a transition country. In doing so, it relies on qualitative research wit…
Policy Implications for Addressing Roma Precarious Migration Through Employment at Home
Roma migration from Romania is often precarious and takes place in circumstances that increase pre‐existent levels of vulnerability. For many, migration is a last resort solution for navigating an insecure economic environment. For others, it has become a source of profit they draw upon, sometimes at the expense of the most vulnerable members of Roma communities. The major challenge this article addresses is how to create the enabling circumstanc…
Young people in cross-national volunteering: Perceptions of unfairness
This qualitative study explores young people's perceptions of unfairness when involved in cross-border volunteering. It extends the theoretical understanding of volunteering, by adding to the notion of barriers of access, the idea that poor volunteer management may pose obstacles in the process of volunteering. The research indicates that the young people are not passive, but justice-sensitive when faced with situations perceived as unfair. It ar…
Social tiesat work: Roma migrants and the community dynamics
This research examines how the internal social dynamics of Roma communities at home shape their propensity to migrate. It is theoretically grounded in the literature on social capital and focuses on two core concepts: 'migration-rich' and 'migration-poor' communities. The research is based on in-depth interviews and informal discussions with Roma from six (mainly rural) communities of Transylvania (Romania) and includes qualitative data gathered …
Transitional Education for Child Laborers. A Review of Residential Bridge Camps for Mainstreaming Ex-Child Laborers into the Formal Education System
Residential bridge camps provide intensive education in residential settings with the aim of preparing hard-core child laborers to be integrated in mainstream schools. The author reviews the extent to which residential bridge camps are effective interventions for integrating former child laborers into the mainstream schools at age appropriate levels. The research was based on a thorough review of secondary data, with 786 abstracts being screened.…
From 'Making a Living' to 'Getting Ahead: Roma Women's Experiences of Migration
Drawing on qualitative interviews in six Roma communities from Transylvania (Romania), the paper examines women's histories of migration. It explores how gender norms and expectations intersect migration and what the perceived benefits and costs associated with mobility may be. Women's personal meanings of migration vary, from ensuring social mobility at home, to family survival. My research indicates that Roma women's migration is highly depende…
Grandmothers as main caregivers in the context of parental migration: Bunicile ca îngrijitoare in contextul migratiei parintilor
Whilst a large number of parents from Romania migrate for work, the surrogate-parenting role of grandmothers remains overlooked both in policies and in research. This article explores, through 24 in-depth interviews, the often-invisible experiences of grandmothers, for a more complete understanding of the process of migration and the necessary development of social services. The fieldwork was located in the northern countryside, which has an esta…
I have a child and a garden’: Young people's experiences of care giving in transnational families
This article concerns young people's experiences with care giving when their parents migrate. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 21 young people from Transylvania (Romania), the article examines their accounts of living in transnational families: how the experience of care giving intersects their transitions to adulthood and the personalised meanings young people attach to their actions. This article argues that care giving relationships are …
Young People’s Perspectives on Changing Families’ Dynamics of Power in the Context of Parental Migration
The article examines whether parental migration is changing the dynamics of power within families. It is based on in-depth interviews with young people between 14 and 20 years who experience parental migration from Romania. It is argued that despite factors that may facilitate less authoritarian relations in transnational families, migration does not neutralize pre-existing power relations. In different stages of the migration cycle, different le…
Performing the border of child labour: Roma working children
The article explores the social, cultural and economical processes that lead Roma children into labour and their own interpretations of the value and risks of working. Based on qualitative research in several Roma communities in Romania the article analyses the different family strategies in coping with the economic difficulties of transition and the place of children in this process. The article is interested in the relationship between children…
Social tiesat work: Roma migrants and the community dynamics
This research examines how the internal social dynamics of Roma communities at home shape their propensity to migrate. It is theoretically grounded in the literature on social capital and focuses on two core concepts: 'migration-rich' and 'migration-poor' communities. The research is based on in-depth interviews and informal discussions with Roma from six (mainly rural) communities of Transylvania (Romania) and includes qualitative data gathered …
Grandmothers as main caregivers in the context of parental migration: Bunicile ca îngrijitoare in contextul migratiei parintilor
Whilst a large number of parents from Romania migrate for work, the surrogate-parenting role of grandmothers remains overlooked both in policies and in research. This article explores, through 24 in-depth interviews, the often-invisible experiences of grandmothers, for a more complete understanding of the process of migration and the necessary development of social services. The fieldwork was located in the northern countryside, which has an esta…
Young People’s Perspectives on Changing Families’ Dynamics of Power in the Context of Parental Migration
The article examines whether parental migration is changing the dynamics of power within families. It is based on in-depth interviews with young people between 14 and 20 years who experience parental migration from Romania. It is argued that despite factors that may facilitate less authoritarian relations in transnational families, migration does not neutralize pre-existing power relations. In different stages of the migration cycle, different le…
Young people in cross-national volunteering: Perceptions of unfairness
This qualitative study explores young people's perceptions of unfairness when involved in cross-border volunteering. It extends the theoretical understanding of volunteering, by adding to the notion of barriers of access, the idea that poor volunteer management may pose obstacles in the process of volunteering. The research indicates that the young people are not passive, but justice-sensitive when faced with situations perceived as unfair. It ar…
From 'Making a Living' to 'Getting Ahead: Roma Women's Experiences of Migration
Drawing on qualitative interviews in six Roma communities from Transylvania (Romania), the paper examines women's histories of migration. It explores how gender norms and expectations intersect migration and what the perceived benefits and costs associated with mobility may be. Women's personal meanings of migration vary, from ensuring social mobility at home, to family survival. My research indicates that Roma women's migration is highly depende…
Performing the border of child labour: Roma working children
The article explores the social, cultural and economical processes that lead Roma children into labour and their own interpretations of the value and risks of working. Based on qualitative research in several Roma communities in Romania the article analyses the different family strategies in coping with the economic difficulties of transition and the place of children in this process. The article is interested in the relationship between children…
Precarity and the social mobility nexus for young Roma in vocational education and training
This paper aims to demonstrate the analytical potential of initial vocational education and training (iVET) in the debate on the costs of social mobility. It is based on extensive qualitative fieldwork with over 250 young people in Romania’s iVET (around 20% of whom were Roma). Central to the discourses of young Roma are the experiences of discrimination, the absence of a ‘vocational habitus’ and an awareness of credential inflation, despite the …
Affirmative action in Romania’s higher education: Roma students’ perceived meanings and dilemmas
This qualitative paper explores Roma students' perceptions on the policy of assigning 'special places' for Roma in Romania's universities. Findings suggest that Roma see themselves as occupying a precarious social space, concerned not as much to hide perceived merit violation but to handle (alleged) inadequacies given by their stigmatized ethnicity
Policy Implications for Addressing Roma Precarious Migration Through Employment at Home
Roma migration from Romania is often precarious and takes place in circumstances that increase pre‐existent levels of vulnerability. For many, migration is a last resort solution for navigating an insecure economic environment. For others, it has become a source of profit they draw upon, sometimes at the expense of the most vulnerable members of Roma communities. The major challenge this article addresses is how to create the enabling circumstanc…
I have a child and a garden’: Young people's experiences of care giving in transnational families
This article concerns young people's experiences with care giving when their parents migrate. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 21 young people from Transylvania (Romania), the article examines their accounts of living in transnational families: how the experience of care giving intersects their transitions to adulthood and the personalised meanings young people attach to their actions. This article argues that care giving relationships are …
The Politics of Work: Young Employees’ Awareness of Industrial Relations in Romania’s Call Centres
The business service sector, of which call centers make up a large share, has emerged as an important driver of growth in central and eastern Europe. This article explores how young employees in call centers in Romania interpret their labor market positioning, how they engage with the structures that shape their working lives, and how they mobilize values to make sense of complex labor processes and industrial relations. Based on in-depth, face-t…
Education-to-Work Transitions in Former Communist Countries after 30-Plus Years of Transformation
This paper reviews how young people's education-to-work transitions have changed since 1989 in former communist countries that have subsequently become full members of the European Union (EU). The sudden collapse of the command economies led to an equally abrupt breakdown in earlier routes into working life. Subsequently, the new independent states have reconstructed their education and training, and their market economies have developed. They no…
Performing the border of child labour: Roma working children
The article explores the social, cultural and economical processes that lead Roma children into labour and their own interpretations of the value and risks of working. Based on qualitative research in several Roma communities in Romania the article analyses the different family strategies in coping with the economic difficulties of transition and the place of children in this process. The article is interested in the relationship between children…
Grandmothers as main caregivers in the context of parental migration: Bunicile ca îngrijitoare in contextul migratiei parintilor
Whilst a large number of parents from Romania migrate for work, the surrogate-parenting role of grandmothers remains overlooked both in policies and in research. This article explores, through 24 in-depth interviews, the often-invisible experiences of grandmothers, for a more complete understanding of the process of migration and the necessary development of social services. The fieldwork was located in the northern countryside, which has an esta…
I have a child and a garden’: Young people's experiences of care giving in transnational families
This article concerns young people's experiences with care giving when their parents migrate. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 21 young people from Transylvania (Romania), the article examines their accounts of living in transnational families: how the experience of care giving intersects their transitions to adulthood and the personalised meanings young people attach to their actions. This article argues that care giving relationships are …
Young People’s Perspectives on Changing Families’ Dynamics of Power in the Context of Parental Migration
The article examines whether parental migration is changing the dynamics of power within families. It is based on in-depth interviews with young people between 14 and 20 years who experience parental migration from Romania. It is argued that despite factors that may facilitate less authoritarian relations in transnational families, migration does not neutralize pre-existing power relations. In different stages of the migration cycle, different le…
Transitional Education for Child Laborers. A Review of Residential Bridge Camps for Mainstreaming Ex-Child Laborers into the Formal Education System
Residential bridge camps provide intensive education in residential settings with the aim of preparing hard-core child laborers to be integrated in mainstream schools. The author reviews the extent to which residential bridge camps are effective interventions for integrating former child laborers into the mainstream schools at age appropriate levels. The research was based on a thorough review of secondary data, with 786 abstracts being screened.…
From 'Making a Living' to 'Getting Ahead: Roma Women's Experiences of Migration
Drawing on qualitative interviews in six Roma communities from Transylvania (Romania), the paper examines women's histories of migration. It explores how gender norms and expectations intersect migration and what the perceived benefits and costs associated with mobility may be. Women's personal meanings of migration vary, from ensuring social mobility at home, to family survival. My research indicates that Roma women's migration is highly depende…
Understanding non-participation: Perceived barriers in cross-border volunteering among Romanian youth
Previous research asked why people do volunteer, but rarely asked what makes them not to. When indeed this happened, in Eastern Europe answers were rather conventional attributions to the communist system. This paper revisits this statement by looking at the perceived present-day constraints likely to be responsible for young people's low rate of cross-border volunteering in a transition country. In doing so, it relies on qualitative research wit…
Policy Implications for Addressing Roma Precarious Migration Through Employment at Home
Roma migration from Romania is often precarious and takes place in circumstances that increase pre‐existent levels of vulnerability. For many, migration is a last resort solution for navigating an insecure economic environment. For others, it has become a source of profit they draw upon, sometimes at the expense of the most vulnerable members of Roma communities. The major challenge this article addresses is how to create the enabling circumstanc…
Young people in cross-national volunteering: Perceptions of unfairness
This qualitative study explores young people's perceptions of unfairness when involved in cross-border volunteering. It extends the theoretical understanding of volunteering, by adding to the notion of barriers of access, the idea that poor volunteer management may pose obstacles in the process of volunteering. The research indicates that the young people are not passive, but justice-sensitive when faced with situations perceived as unfair. It ar…
Social tiesat work: Roma migrants and the community dynamics
This research examines how the internal social dynamics of Roma communities at home shape their propensity to migrate. It is theoretically grounded in the literature on social capital and focuses on two core concepts: 'migration-rich' and 'migration-poor' communities. The research is based on in-depth interviews and informal discussions with Roma from six (mainly rural) communities of Transylvania (Romania) and includes qualitative data gathered …
On pride, shame, passing and avoidance: An inquiry into Roma young people’s relationship with their ethnicity
Roma ethnicity is one of the most stigmatised identities of today’s Europe. An emerging discourse on ‘Roma pride’ aims to reshape this widespread perception, especially among the educated youth. Drawing on 57 interviews with young people with/in higher education in Romania, this article looks into their experiences of self-identification as Roma. On the one hand, this article identified a tendency for young people to move in a conceptual space, d…
Affirmative action in Romania’s higher education: Roma students’ perceived meanings and dilemmas
This qualitative paper explores Roma students' perceptions on the policy of assigning 'special places' for Roma in Romania's universities. Findings suggest that Roma see themselves as occupying a precarious social space, concerned not as much to hide perceived merit violation but to handle (alleged) inadequacies given by their stigmatized ethnicity
You Can Change the World’: Young People and Youth Organizations Becoming Entrepreneurial
At the time social entrepreneurship gains momentum, youth organizations try to assume new roles: either by providing youth entrepreneurship trainings or by becoming ‘entrepreneurial’ themselves. However, these processes are not free of contradictions and unsolved tensions. The article highlights some dilemmas of the conventional discourses on social entrepreneurship in the frame of youth organizations. It argues that both youth work and social en…
Parents as Gatekeepers? An Indirect Account on the Image of Vocational Education in Historical Context
Vocational education and training (VET) is high on the European agenda. This article adds nuance to the policy ambition of “fixing” parents’ views on VET. It is based on extensive qualitative research in Romania, with over 250 young people. An unanticipated finding was the “absence” of parents from the young people’s accounts, along with a tendency by the teachers and employers to blame young people for having “unreasonable expectations.” This ar…
A new elite? Higher education as seen through the lens of young people working in innovative technologies
This research explores the significance of higher education among 53 young people from Romania who received prizes in technical competitions, mainly for innovations in robotics and IT. Findings suggest they held strong views on higher education. For some, the conventional roles of university were still, pertinent. However, opting out university or dropping out as a choice were unanticipated findings. This research tentatively suggests that – at l…
Precarity and the social mobility nexus for young Roma in vocational education and training
This paper aims to demonstrate the analytical potential of initial vocational education and training (iVET) in the debate on the costs of social mobility. It is based on extensive qualitative fieldwork with over 250 young people in Romania’s iVET (around 20% of whom were Roma). Central to the discourses of young Roma are the experiences of discrimination, the absence of a ‘vocational habitus’ and an awareness of credential inflation, despite the …
Crafting professional identities at the bottom of the knowledge economy a critical analysis of managerial discourses
In the context of labour arbitrage, Romania became home to an expanding nearshoring business service sector. Many graduates work in 'call centres': a generic term for various types of customer-oriented services associated with different employment regimes and company structures. This research examines the discursive construction of compliance to precarious work, largely centred on managerial perspectives. Based on in-depth interviews with manager…
Education-to-Work Transitions in Former Communist Countries after 30-Plus Years of Transformation
This paper reviews how young people's education-to-work transitions have changed since 1989 in former communist countries that have subsequently become full members of the European Union (EU). The sudden collapse of the command economies led to an equally abrupt breakdown in earlier routes into working life. Subsequently, the new independent states have reconstructed their education and training, and their market economies have developed. They no…
The Politics of Work: Young Employees’ Awareness of Industrial Relations in Romania’s Call Centres
The business service sector, of which call centers make up a large share, has emerged as an important driver of growth in central and eastern Europe. This article explores how young employees in call centers in Romania interpret their labor market positioning, how they engage with the structures that shape their working lives, and how they mobilize values to make sense of complex labor processes and industrial relations. Based on in-depth, face-t…
Degrees of Doubt: Overqualification as a Blind Spot at the Base of the Knowledge Economy
Europe has the most educated generation in its history, yet an alarming number of graduates are overqualified. This paper explores the intersection between education and work from the perspectives of those involved in a sector that is prone to overqualification: the call centres of Romania’s thriving business service sector. Based on over 100 in-depth interviews with young people, human resource personnel, and managerial staff at different levels…
Political science (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Law (12 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Social science (8 works) · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics (8 works)