Sheet of VALLOT Pauline

• Sociology of immigration
• Sociology of social stratification
• Articulation of gender, class and race relations
• Sociology of education and higher education (hierarchy and profitability of degrees; educational aspirations)
• Quantitative and qualitative methods in social sciences

Thesis in sociology :

Pauline VALLOT defended her thesis on September 9, 2020, in Franco-German cotutelle (University of Paris I / University of Göttingen). The jury was composed of : Cris BEAUCHEMIN, Research Director and HDR at INED (president); Ioana CÎRSTOCEA, CNRS Research Fellow and HDR at CESSP (examiner); Silke HANS, Professor of Sociology at the University of Göttingen (co-director); Catherine MARRY, CNRS Research Director and HDR at the Maurice Halbwachs Center (reporter); Camille PEUGNY, Professor of Sociology at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (reporter); Anne-Catherine WAGNER, Professor of Sociology at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (co-director).

Directors : Silke HANS and Anne-Catherine WAGNER

Title of the thesis : Une immigration déqualifiée. Diplômé·es d’études longues à la périphérie des professions supérieures françaises et allemandes.

Summary :

This sociology thesis is a contribution to the analysis of professional dequalification on a transnational scale. It proposes to renew the analysis of contemporary migrations and the international hierarchies that underlie them through the case of migrants with higher education degrees. More specifically, it focuses on people who immigrated to France or Germany as adults and who reside in these countries at the end of the 2000s. This rapidly expanding population is exposed to legal and symbolic exclusion mechanisms that may counterbalance the advantages of high educational resources and international skills. Based on this ambivalence, the research is based on an empirical device that combines statistical surveys ({Enquête Emploi}, {Trajectoires et Origines} and {Mikrozensus}) and ethnographic interviews with immigrant doctors and engineers.

In the first part, the notion of ‘choice’ in migration orientation is deconstructed. We first analyse how expert and political discourse has contributed to the dissemination of the theoretical scheme of a global market of ‘talents’ that would be oriented according to the ‘attractiveness’ of countries. We then identify two major and largely compartmentalised circulation spaces: from Africa to France on the one hand, and from Eastern Europe to Germany on the other. The linguistic and educational influence of France on formerly colonised countries is the basis of the first system, while the long-standing economic exchanges between Germany and the Eastern European countries, recently facilitated by the European Union, serve as the basis for the second.

In the second part, we focus on work and employment in the country of arrival. Due to barriers in accessing higher professions, the situation of immigrants is often one of status inconsistency with the social stratification of other higher education graduates. Moreover, they often experience a professional downgrading as a result of migration. The phenomenon of dequalification is explained by mechanisms of exclusion and stigmatisation according to nationality, country of education, language practices or physical appearance. It is expressed differently in France and Germany and contributes to the recomposition of gender relations. Thus, the opposition between central and peripheral countries is objectified and specified through the analysis of two contemporary migratory systems with contrasting logics.

University formation :

• 2014-2020 : PhD in sociology, Franco-German cotutelle (University of Paris 1 / University of Göttingen)
• 2013-2014: 10-month Research Internship at the University of Bremen, Germany
• 2012-2013 : Agrégation of Economic and Social Sciences / Master 2 Training for Higher Education, ENS Paris/ENS Paris-Saclay
• 2011-2012: Master 2 SocStat “Sociology and Statistics” (EHESS/ENSAE/ENS Paris)
• 2010-2011: Master 1 in Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK (Erasmus Program)
• 2009-2014 : ENS Cachan (now ENS Paris-Saclay)
• 2007-2009 : Preparatory Class B/L “Letters and Social Sciences”.

Thesis Supervisors : Silke HANS et Anne-Catherine WAGNER

Titre de la thèse : Une immigration déqualifiée. Diplômé·es d’études longues à la périphérie des professions supérieures françaises et allemandes.

• Coordination avec Claire Cosquer et Brenda Le Bigot d’un numéro thématique sur les migrations privilégiées, dans la Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales (publication prévu à l’automne 2024)
• Depuis 2023 : Membre du comité de rédaction de la Revue des Politiques Sociales et Familiales (CNAF)
• 2021-2023 : conduite avec Hicham Jamid d’une post-enquête qualitative Trajectoires et Origines (Ined, Insee)
• Membre du comité d’organisation du colloque « Des migrations internationales privilégiées ? », 15-16 juin 2021, Institut Convergences Migrations, Aubervilliers.
• 2015-2019 : Coordinatrice du Collectif « Feedback », atelier de recherche doctoral sur l’enseignement de la sociologie à l’Université