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

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. 2

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 3

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

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

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

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) 7

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