Immigrants’ monetary bank practices. A socialization trajectory

The aim of this paper is to analyse immigrants citizens’ monetary practices. The practices considered describe a trajectory that shows the socialization process related to money inside the bank agencies. The figure of the stranger (Simmel 1908) is proposed as a valuable resource for the Italian credit system and, at the same time, as the bearer of new practices that belong to others’ money cultures. In fact, the entrance in a bank represents a passage that is usually preceded by a path that, given the peculiarities of the previous experience of the migrant, is not necessarily common to the Italians’ experience. The research highlights the mutual adaptation strategies within which the processes of socialization to money play a leading role in the formation of an environment based on trust. Through 27 semi-structured interviews with employees of six Italian banks and 20 interviews with the members of two communities of immigrants, i.e. a Muslim community in Verona and a Moldovan community in Padua, the research describes the processes of economic socialization that involve both immigrant clients and the Italian banking system. The contribution falls within a broader doctoral research project which describes the monetary practices carried out within the Italian banks.