Alfred Schütz Revisited: Social Exclusion of Refugees in Brandenburg

Abstract

For refugees, the transition from their home to the host society is especially challenging. In particular, their situation shortly after arrival entails the risk of social exclusion. Based on two case stud­ies, this article reconstructs experiences of exclusion within the integration processes of Cameroonian refugee men and unaccompanied minors in the region of Brandenburg, Germany. What connects the studies are the existential threats of being forced to wait due to having an unclear future and a pattern of being unable to refer to (positive) lived experiences in the local environment. The article approaches these dynamics by applying Alfred Schütz as a helpful analytical heuristic to the findings. The possibil­ities and pitfalls of the deployed Schützean framework are highlighted considering current methodolog­ical developments in the field.

Keywords

• refugees
• integration processes
• imposed waiting
• social exclusion
• subjective meaning
• alfred schütz