Coping through Digital Livelihood: Syrian Refugees Navigating Legal Restrictions on Work and Starting a New Life

Abstract: The overarching objective and purpose of this thesis is to shed light on how engagement in digital work serves as a coping strategy for Syrian refugees in different receiving countries. The stories of my participants demonstrate the multiple dimensions of this livelihood strategy, as and when they utilise it to counter structural constraints. By exercising their agency, I observe that my participants are aiming to capitalise on working online to escape from an imposed category of victimhood, social exclusion and, indeed, the refugee status itself. My findings reveal that there is a group of Syrian refugees who refuse to be stereotyped, nor conform to the conventional image of them constructed by institutions or the public. As indicated in most of the narratives, working online to a certain extent promises my participants an imaginable future. It is at the same time a strategy for them to regain their self-worth and sense of achievement. Importantly, this thesis exposes the role of class among refugees. This study’s findings reveal that resources play an important role in deciding whether one can engage in digital work. Although digital work has a lower cost of entry in terms of economic capital, it requires a high level of cultural capital such as language skills, social skills, and certain pre-existing experiences.