Labour exploitation and migration of the Indian Sikh community in Italy: results of an empirical research

This paper intends to illustrate results from an empirical research on the phenomenon of labour exploitation of migrants in the Italian agricultural sector, with a focus on the Indian Sikh community living in Sabaudia. The research was conducted between February and September 2017, through a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews. It outlines the major economic and political causes behind labour exploitation of migrants throughout the Italian national territory. With a particular focus on examining how exploitation occurs within a real contextual framework, it underlines the importance of the sociological dimension of the phenomenon. Labour exploitation is part of a systematic and well-structured mechanism in which recruitment of labour only occurs through illegal channels. Due to its multiform character, labour exploitation shapes itself according to the context in which it occurs, leading to the existence of several and different ways of subordination. Behind this variety of exploitation, there is a social understanding of the phenomenon that goes back to relationships of power amongst social groups, unveiling the sociological dimension to this phenomenon. Power differentials between the established and the outsiders (Elias: 1965;1994) determine the social role every group must play within society. Group membership defines individuals’ identity, strengthening mechanisms of social exclusion. On this account, the Indian Sikh community living in Sabaudia, who never interacts with the hosting society only refers to itself, leading to a double bond with the community. The latter, while serving as a mean to survival, it also confines migrants within a system of dependency in a never-ending mode of subordination.