Paper short abstract:

Based on extended fieldwork in Roma communities of small Hungarian towns, our presentation demonstrates that dependent relationships are just as crucial for social mobility as the education system.

Paper long abstract:

Most research on social mobility mainly focuses on the challenges of advancing socially through education. The concept of social mobility through education assumes that individuals are autonomous and strive to achieve their potential within the confines of existing structural limitations. Based on extended fieldwork within Roma communities of peripheral Hungarian small towns, our presentation demonstrates that dependent relationships are just as crucial for social mobility as the education system, which assumes autonomous individuals. Our research suggests that small towns' social relations and institutions play an essential role in the mobility strategies of the disadvantaged local Roma population. These strategies, however, tend to embed individuals in local clientelist relationships, which can contrast mobility strategies based on education. The presentation illustrates the dilemmas and contradictions between these two strategies by examining cases of Roma entrepreneurs and their families. The preliminary results show that informal and familiar relations protect against racial discrimination. However, it is important to present how these relations can reinforce local ethnic and class hierarchies. Our presentation primarily examines the impact of dependent relationships and clientelism on the social mobility strategies of the disadvantaged Roma population. Additionally, it explores how these relationships shape social relations in small peripheral towns and extend to broader political and economic power structures across the country.