Todo el mundo es país. Rapporto col proprio lavoro e percezione della discriminazione nella popolazione immigrata ["Todo el mundo es país". Immigrant population relationship with work and perception of discrimination]

Relevant incoming immigration flows to Italy are novel for a country that has been source of emigrants for a long time. Immigrants are often discriminated against in housing, education, health and work. The perceptive aspect (how much immigrants actually feel discriminated) reveals the inner world of the stranger, a world made of priorities which absorb a huge emotional investment, given her/his unstable situation. Work, in absence of other agencies of socialization, takes on a strategic role and is used on many fronts to manage material and emotional needs. 220 questionnaires to the immigrant population in Rimini were conducted. A strong negative relationship between level of job satisfaction and level of perceived discrimination emerged. Therefore, work is invested emotionally, not only financially. Work is the link with the host society, both for economic benefits and for the investment undertaken prior to the time of departure from the country of origin. In other words, work is what a person asks and is expected to have by the host country, it is the reason why an immigrant is required. In the absence of a plurality of shared cultural aspects, work is the main meeting ground between individuals belonging to societies with different histories.