Practices of dignity and respect: Children of immigrants and justness

This chapter discusses the concepts of dignity and respect in relation to the situation of the descendants of immigrants, the so-called ‘second generation’. The discussion will be based, on the empirical data of a research study carried out with the children of immigrants in Italy (Colombo and Rebughini 2012) and, on a theoretical reflection about the relation among the concepts of dignity, respect and justness. It will shed light on the practices of dignity, respect and justness carried out by social actors – in this case the children of immigrants – who can be involved in situations of discrimination, where their personal feelings of dignity are under threat.