The Overtaking. Social Female Route
in the Second Southern Italy Generations in Turin
Many years after the end of the great internal migrations, a significant part of the
population of Turin has southern origins. Historical studies only dealt with the first
generation of immigrants, failing to analyse the destiny of the second generation,
which grew up in a period of important economic transformations for the industrial
North, namely the Seventies and the Eighties. Today, in Turin, coming from a family of
southern immigrants means to belong to the working class. The reasons of this scarce
intergenerational social mobility have not been exhaustively investigated. Two studies
dealt with this issue and pointed out that the disadvantage of the sons of southern
immigrants in the social pyramid finds its roots in the lower commitment to education,
compared to locals. However, this phenomenon involves important differences
according to gender. This article presents the results of a research that compared the
educational paths of sons and daughters of southern families and local families. Boys
and girls coming from southern families appear to have highly differentiated paths.
The formers leave school earlier and immediately enter the labour market as workers.
The latters seem to invest more in education and this gives them access to clerical jobs.