Michael Parzer
Biographic Data
| ID | 290034 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Parzer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Parzer |
| SIGNATURE | PARZER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Vienna |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5312-8361 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 65 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Of Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones: Navigating Multilingual Challenges in Reconstructive Forced Migration Research
Reflexive migration research emphasizes the critical examination of knowledge production—particularly concerning researchers’ positionalities, the categories they employ, and the institutional contexts in which they operate. We aim to extend this research stream by systematically engaging with linguistic positioning, which remains an underexplored feature in migration studies. Hence, our article critically engages with the multilingual challenges…
Symbolic boundaries and the negative classifications of the ‘Successful Other’ at the intersection of ethnicity, religion, gender, and refugeeness
Our paper focuses on how members of the national ingroup respond when confronted with ‘successful others’ who challenge prevailing perceptions of immigrants and national belonging. We empirically investigate this through a case study on Alma Zadić, Austria’s Minister of Justice since January 2020. Her non-Austrian origin initiated a heated public debate on the legitimacy of an immigrant or refugee holding one of the country’s most important polit…
Economy of marginality and familiarity: Making sense of South Asian migrant breakout business in Hong Kong
This article examines an emerging phenomenon within the South Asian economy in Hong Kong: Disadvantaged entrepreneurs, mainly from Pakistan, Nepal and India, have adopted breakout strategies to target other disadvantaged migrants, particularly Indonesian and Filipino foreign domestic workers. This challenges the widely shared assumption that breakout strategies of migrant entrepreneurs address primarily the mainstream population. By applying Ervi…
Experiencing forced migration: Challenges of arriving after displacement from Ukraine
The paper focuses on the experiences of displaced Ukrainians who arrived in Austria following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. We draw on the concept of 'arrival' as proposed by Ludger Pries, to delve into the multifaceted process of arrival that extends beyond mere physical relocation. By conducting group discussions and employing the documentary method, we reveal the challenges associated with 'arriving' at the individual, the int…
Refugees’ Arriving through the Lens of Fiction: Unveiling the Ambivalences of Hegemonic Expectations
In this article, we use fiction as a lens to study processes of refugees’ arriving in Austria. For that purpose, we draw on findings from our transdisciplinary and participatory project “The Art of Arriving—Reframing ‘Refugee Integration’” in which we have created a real-world laboratory and examined if and how the meaning-making processes involved in creating and interpreting art can foster reframing “refugee integration” concepts and provide al…
On Becoming an Artist Anew: Refugees’ Arrival in the Field of Cultural Production in Austria
This article focuses on how artists who had to flee Syria between 2011 and 2016 have restarted their artistic careers in Austria. Pries’ concept of arrival and Lamont’s symbolic boundary approach offer an analytical framework for examining the process of becoming an artist anew. By drawing on data collected from a 4-year ethnography in various fields of cultural production in Vienna, this article sheds light on the barriers these artists face in …
The Art of Arriving: A New Methodological Approach to Reframing 'Refugee Integration
The main objective of the transdisciplinary and arts-based research project 'The Art of Arriving: Reframing 'Refugee Integration'' is to explore the transformative potential of the arts for the sociology of migration and integration. By creating a real-world laboratory where sociologists accompany artists as they create, and recipients while they interpret aesthetic expressions, the project focuses on the process of refugees' arriving. The aim is…
Zwischen Wunsch und Wirklichkeit: Zum Zusammenhang von sozialer Herkunft, Migration und Bildungsaspirationen
Bildungsaspirationen – Ziele, die als erstrebenswert und möglich betrachtet werden – hängen von der sozialen Herkunft ab und wirken sich auf die Bildungserfolge aus. Somit sind sie ein wesentlicher Faktor in der Reproduktion sozialer Ungleichheit: Höhere soziale Positionen der Eltern gehen mit höheren Aspirationen von Jugendlichen einher. Liegt ein Migrationshintergrund vor, sind die Aspirationen tendenziell ambitionierter als wenn dies nicht der…
Double burden of representation: How ethnic and refugee categorisation shapes Syrian migrants' artistic practices in Austria
This article examines the experiences of artists who were forced to leave their homes due to war, persecution, and violence that (re-)started their artistic careers in their arrival countries. Based on an ethnographic study of Syrian refugees' artistic practices in Vienna, Austria, spanning diverse cultural fields (music, theatre, literature, visual art), the paper shows how these artists are not only confronted with what has been called 'the bur…
More than just shopping: Ethnic majority consumers and cosmopolitanism in immigrant grocery shops
This paper explores ethnic majority consumption practices in immigrant economies. Drawing on recent debates on cosmopolitanism, we focus on the question of how the use of immigrant shops by members of the ethnic majority is intertwined with the erosion and/or the (re)production of symbolic boundaries. We conducted 31 in-depth interviews and 15 go-alongs with consumers in immigrant grocery shops in Vienna. Our findings show how consumption is base…
Using Go-Alongs for exploring immigrant entrepreneurs' native customers
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the methodological practice of Go-Alongs for exploring immigrant entrepreneurs' native customers, a barely developed subfield within immigrant business research. Through accompanying individuals on outings in their familiar environments, Go-Alongs as a qualitative data collection method are used to gain access to practices, experiences and interpretations of individuals in their everyday routines. Drawin…
Staying-In' or 'Breaking-Out'? How Immigrant Entrepreneurs (do not) Enter Mainstream Markets
This article examines how immigrant entrepreneurs ‘break-out’ of their reliance on co-ethnic markets by becoming attractive to customers beyond their own ethnic community. So far, break-out has been considered mainly an economically driven and consciously implemented strategy. By drawing upon interviews with small business owners in the Turkish food retailing sector in Vienna, as well as crowd-sourced reviews about immigrant businesses on online …
Migrant Businesses And The Symbolic Transformation Of Urban Neighborhoods: Towards a Research Agenda
Migrant businesses play a crucial role not only in the economies of Western European cities, but also in the revaluation of urban space. Alongside their relevance to physical neighborhood development, migrant businesses seem to be crucial in transforming urban spaces symbolically. Although there is some evidence from migrant business research and the literature on gentrification, the phenomenon has not yet been studied systematically. We therefor…
Commodifying Ethnicity: On Marketing Strategies in Immigrant Cultural Economies in Vienna
This paper examines the role of ethnicity and the formation of various expressions of it in the immigrant cultural economy based on the conceptual frameworks of cultural toolkit and mixed embeddedness. Drawing on empirical data obtained from three immigrant communities in Vienna (Turkish, Chinese and South Asian), this paper proposes a four-field typology, suggesting that multiple meanings related to immigrant integration have been actively inves…
More than just shopping: Ethnic majority consumers and cosmopolitanism in immigrant grocery shops
This paper explores ethnic majority consumption practices in immigrant economies. Drawing on recent debates on cosmopolitanism, we focus on the question of how the use of immigrant shops by members of the ethnic majority is intertwined with the erosion and/or the (re)production of symbolic boundaries. We conducted 31 in-depth interviews and 15 go-alongs with consumers in immigrant grocery shops in Vienna. Our findings show how consumption is base…
The Art of Arriving: A New Methodological Approach to Reframing 'Refugee Integration
The main objective of the transdisciplinary and arts-based research project 'The Art of Arriving: Reframing 'Refugee Integration'' is to explore the transformative potential of the arts for the sociology of migration and integration. By creating a real-world laboratory where sociologists accompany artists as they create, and recipients while they interpret aesthetic expressions, the project focuses on the process of refugees' arriving. The aim is…
Double burden of representation: How ethnic and refugee categorisation shapes Syrian migrants' artistic practices in Austria
This article examines the experiences of artists who were forced to leave their homes due to war, persecution, and violence that (re-)started their artistic careers in their arrival countries. Based on an ethnographic study of Syrian refugees' artistic practices in Vienna, Austria, spanning diverse cultural fields (music, theatre, literature, visual art), the paper shows how these artists are not only confronted with what has been called 'the bur…
Experiencing forced migration: Challenges of arriving after displacement from Ukraine
The paper focuses on the experiences of displaced Ukrainians who arrived in Austria following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. We draw on the concept of 'arrival' as proposed by Ludger Pries, to delve into the multifaceted process of arrival that extends beyond mere physical relocation. By conducting group discussions and employing the documentary method, we reveal the challenges associated with 'arriving' at the individual, the int…
Migrant Businesses And The Symbolic Transformation Of Urban Neighborhoods: Towards a Research Agenda
Migrant businesses play a crucial role not only in the economies of Western European cities, but also in the revaluation of urban space. Alongside their relevance to physical neighborhood development, migrant businesses seem to be crucial in transforming urban spaces symbolically. Although there is some evidence from migrant business research and the literature on gentrification, the phenomenon has not yet been studied systematically. We therefor…
Commodifying Ethnicity: On Marketing Strategies in Immigrant Cultural Economies in Vienna
This paper examines the role of ethnicity and the formation of various expressions of it in the immigrant cultural economy based on the conceptual frameworks of cultural toolkit and mixed embeddedness. Drawing on empirical data obtained from three immigrant communities in Vienna (Turkish, Chinese and South Asian), this paper proposes a four-field typology, suggesting that multiple meanings related to immigrant integration have been actively inves…
Staying-In' or 'Breaking-Out'? How Immigrant Entrepreneurs (do not) Enter Mainstream Markets
This article examines how immigrant entrepreneurs ‘break-out’ of their reliance on co-ethnic markets by becoming attractive to customers beyond their own ethnic community. So far, break-out has been considered mainly an economically driven and consciously implemented strategy. By drawing upon interviews with small business owners in the Turkish food retailing sector in Vienna, as well as crowd-sourced reviews about immigrant businesses on online …
On Becoming an Artist Anew: Refugees’ Arrival in the Field of Cultural Production in Austria
This article focuses on how artists who had to flee Syria between 2011 and 2016 have restarted their artistic careers in Austria. Pries’ concept of arrival and Lamont’s symbolic boundary approach offer an analytical framework for examining the process of becoming an artist anew. By drawing on data collected from a 4-year ethnography in various fields of cultural production in Vienna, this article sheds light on the barriers these artists face in …
Using Go-Alongs for exploring immigrant entrepreneurs' native customers
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the methodological practice of Go-Alongs for exploring immigrant entrepreneurs' native customers, a barely developed subfield within immigrant business research. Through accompanying individuals on outings in their familiar environments, Go-Alongs as a qualitative data collection method are used to gain access to practices, experiences and interpretations of individuals in their everyday routines. Drawin…
Commodifying Ethnicity: On Marketing Strategies in Immigrant Cultural Economies in Vienna
This paper examines the role of ethnicity and the formation of various expressions of it in the immigrant cultural economy based on the conceptual frameworks of cultural toolkit and mixed embeddedness. Drawing on empirical data obtained from three immigrant communities in Vienna (Turkish, Chinese and South Asian), this paper proposes a four-field typology, suggesting that multiple meanings related to immigrant integration have been actively inves…
Migrant Businesses And The Symbolic Transformation Of Urban Neighborhoods: Towards a Research Agenda
Migrant businesses play a crucial role not only in the economies of Western European cities, but also in the revaluation of urban space. Alongside their relevance to physical neighborhood development, migrant businesses seem to be crucial in transforming urban spaces symbolically. Although there is some evidence from migrant business research and the literature on gentrification, the phenomenon has not yet been studied systematically. We therefor…
Staying-In' or 'Breaking-Out'? How Immigrant Entrepreneurs (do not) Enter Mainstream Markets
This article examines how immigrant entrepreneurs ‘break-out’ of their reliance on co-ethnic markets by becoming attractive to customers beyond their own ethnic community. So far, break-out has been considered mainly an economically driven and consciously implemented strategy. By drawing upon interviews with small business owners in the Turkish food retailing sector in Vienna, as well as crowd-sourced reviews about immigrant businesses on online …
Using Go-Alongs for exploring immigrant entrepreneurs' native customers
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the methodological practice of Go-Alongs for exploring immigrant entrepreneurs' native customers, a barely developed subfield within immigrant business research. Through accompanying individuals on outings in their familiar environments, Go-Alongs as a qualitative data collection method are used to gain access to practices, experiences and interpretations of individuals in their everyday routines. Drawin…
More than just shopping: Ethnic majority consumers and cosmopolitanism in immigrant grocery shops
This paper explores ethnic majority consumption practices in immigrant economies. Drawing on recent debates on cosmopolitanism, we focus on the question of how the use of immigrant shops by members of the ethnic majority is intertwined with the erosion and/or the (re)production of symbolic boundaries. We conducted 31 in-depth interviews and 15 go-alongs with consumers in immigrant grocery shops in Vienna. Our findings show how consumption is base…
Zwischen Wunsch und Wirklichkeit: Zum Zusammenhang von sozialer Herkunft, Migration und Bildungsaspirationen
Bildungsaspirationen – Ziele, die als erstrebenswert und möglich betrachtet werden – hängen von der sozialen Herkunft ab und wirken sich auf die Bildungserfolge aus. Somit sind sie ein wesentlicher Faktor in der Reproduktion sozialer Ungleichheit: Höhere soziale Positionen der Eltern gehen mit höheren Aspirationen von Jugendlichen einher. Liegt ein Migrationshintergrund vor, sind die Aspirationen tendenziell ambitionierter als wenn dies nicht der…
Double burden of representation: How ethnic and refugee categorisation shapes Syrian migrants' artistic practices in Austria
This article examines the experiences of artists who were forced to leave their homes due to war, persecution, and violence that (re-)started their artistic careers in their arrival countries. Based on an ethnographic study of Syrian refugees' artistic practices in Vienna, Austria, spanning diverse cultural fields (music, theatre, literature, visual art), the paper shows how these artists are not only confronted with what has been called 'the bur…
The Art of Arriving: A New Methodological Approach to Reframing 'Refugee Integration
The main objective of the transdisciplinary and arts-based research project 'The Art of Arriving: Reframing 'Refugee Integration'' is to explore the transformative potential of the arts for the sociology of migration and integration. By creating a real-world laboratory where sociologists accompany artists as they create, and recipients while they interpret aesthetic expressions, the project focuses on the process of refugees' arriving. The aim is…
Refugees’ Arriving through the Lens of Fiction: Unveiling the Ambivalences of Hegemonic Expectations
In this article, we use fiction as a lens to study processes of refugees’ arriving in Austria. For that purpose, we draw on findings from our transdisciplinary and participatory project “The Art of Arriving—Reframing ‘Refugee Integration’” in which we have created a real-world laboratory and examined if and how the meaning-making processes involved in creating and interpreting art can foster reframing “refugee integration” concepts and provide al…
On Becoming an Artist Anew: Refugees’ Arrival in the Field of Cultural Production in Austria
This article focuses on how artists who had to flee Syria between 2011 and 2016 have restarted their artistic careers in Austria. Pries’ concept of arrival and Lamont’s symbolic boundary approach offer an analytical framework for examining the process of becoming an artist anew. By drawing on data collected from a 4-year ethnography in various fields of cultural production in Vienna, this article sheds light on the barriers these artists face in …
Symbolic boundaries and the negative classifications of the ‘Successful Other’ at the intersection of ethnicity, religion, gender, and refugeeness
Our paper focuses on how members of the national ingroup respond when confronted with ‘successful others’ who challenge prevailing perceptions of immigrants and national belonging. We empirically investigate this through a case study on Alma Zadić, Austria’s Minister of Justice since January 2020. Her non-Austrian origin initiated a heated public debate on the legitimacy of an immigrant or refugee holding one of the country’s most important polit…
Economy of marginality and familiarity: Making sense of South Asian migrant breakout business in Hong Kong
This article examines an emerging phenomenon within the South Asian economy in Hong Kong: Disadvantaged entrepreneurs, mainly from Pakistan, Nepal and India, have adopted breakout strategies to target other disadvantaged migrants, particularly Indonesian and Filipino foreign domestic workers. This challenges the widely shared assumption that breakout strategies of migrant entrepreneurs address primarily the mainstream population. By applying Ervi…
Experiencing forced migration: Challenges of arriving after displacement from Ukraine
The paper focuses on the experiences of displaced Ukrainians who arrived in Austria following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. We draw on the concept of 'arrival' as proposed by Ludger Pries, to delve into the multifaceted process of arrival that extends beyond mere physical relocation. By conducting group discussions and employing the documentary method, we reveal the challenges associated with 'arriving' at the individual, the int…
Of Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones: Navigating Multilingual Challenges in Reconstructive Forced Migration Research
Reflexive migration research emphasizes the critical examination of knowledge production—particularly concerning researchers’ positionalities, the categories they employ, and the institutional contexts in which they operate. We aim to extend this research stream by systematically engaging with linguistic positioning, which remains an underexplored feature in migration studies. Hence, our article critically engages with the multilingual challenges…
Political science (12 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Ethnic group (7 works) · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy (7 works) · Anthropology (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity (5 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (5 works) · Refugee (5 works) · Social science (5 works)