Supporting Liverpool’s Roma community: an illumination via Bourdieu’s theory of capital

Abstract

We discuss our Fair Work research with the Roma of Liverpool, and showcase how Roma communities have developed coping strategies in increasingly precarious labour conditions. We utilise Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of capitals, in particular social capital, to show how Roma cope with the uncertainties of precarious employment. We share our work of the Liverpool Roma Employability Network (LREN) and, in so doing, we posit that social networks, borne of social capital, not merely contribute to enhancing opportunity for Roma employability but more so, align deeply with Roma’s habitus.