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Unfinished business? Migrant lives in British workplaces

Unfinished business? Migrant lives in British workplaces. Eddy Donnelly Paul Freedman Barbara Wilczek. Context and assumptions 1. Developing view that contemporary migration differs in significant ways from preceding modes Changed global context - transnationalism Changed sending context

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Unfinished business? Migrant lives in British workplaces

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  1. Unfinished business?Migrant lives in British workplaces • Eddy Donnelly • Paul Freedman • Barbara Wilczek

  2. Context and assumptions 1 • Developing view that contemporary migration differs in significant ways from preceding modes • Changed global context - transnationalism • Changed sending context • Changed receiving context • Changed migrant characteristics • Changed migrant dispositions (Eade et al 2007) • Contingent migration • Perceived inadequacy of extant theorising and methodology – notably around static conceptions of destination and choice.

  3. Context and assumptions 2 • Recourse to developments in human geography and sociology to complement other contemporary work • Exploration of the quotidian • Exploration of the individual in context • Importance of language use/discourse in revealing ambiguities/dilemmas/choices

  4. Study approach • Participant observation • Insider’s view • Dynamics of the workplace • 3 months in a local food processing plant • Factory context • 950 contracted employees (incl. 450 Polish) • Fordist mode of production • Biographical interviews • 20 interviews with Polish migrant workers • Subjects point of view • Meanings given to experiences

  5. contextual factors that explain Three contextual factors: status & background sense of identity nationality workplace exposure to factory life work regime work relationship

  6. emerging preoccupations/ dilemmas? • Five emerging themes: • ‘lifestyle’ -living ‘normally’? • ‘passivity’ - getting by/rubbing along? • ‘fairness’ - managed fairly? • ‘prospects’ - moving up or moving on? • ‘settlement’ - moving back or staying put?

  7. Unfinished business – conceptual issues over settlement • contradiction and complexity in migrant worker attitudes to host country - economic gain v career devaluation? • indecision/ ambivalence/ deferment - home v host-country (compatibles?) - rational choice v habituation/ inertia? • settlement/return as a protracted process (gradualism)

  8. Unfinished business – methodological issues • General confirmation of approach - uncovering of complex, cross-cutting and contradictory reality.

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