As a concept, life strategies take on a central ambivalence of family: it describes solutions found within the scope of familial cooperation as compromises, developed in the area of conflict made of collective affiliation and individual particularity and alienation. They allow for the family’s continuity as well as for each family member’s individual development. However, a family’s cohesion is at risk when the family fails to create adjustments and sustainable compromises. Building on this theoretical and conceptual consideration, the talk presents life strategies of migration families from a marginalised quarter in Switzerland and their negotiations of multilocality (cp. Geisen, 2015; Geisen, Gilliéron & Günes, 2015). These results originate from a three-year international research project finalised in 2015, which investigated life strategies of migration families in marginalised quarters with a special emphasis on labour and education. 10 families of various descents took part in the study in Switzerland. We conducted family discussions and biographic interviews with selected family members and used the documentary method for our analysis. We were able to identify two different forms of life strategies in Switzerland that are being realised under difficult conditions in marginalised quarters.

Geisen, T. (2015). Lebensstrategien von Familien im Kontext von Arbeit und Migration. In T. Geisen & M. Ottersbach (Eds.), Arbeit, Migration und Soziale Arbeit. Prozesse der Marginalisierung in modernen Arbeitsgesellschaften (pp. 109-141). Wiesbaden: Springer VS. Geisen, T., Gilliéron, G., & Günes, S. (2015). Bildung und Lebensstrategien von Migrationsfamilien. Migration und Soziale Arbeit, 37 (2), 152-158.