A Study of Local Incorporation of Migrant Professionals in Wroclaw

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the patterns of local incorporation of migrant professionals in an urban context. It focuses on Wrocław, a Polish city that is not a traditional migration destination. Drawing on qualitative research, the article analyses migrant trajectories of local incorporation in the context of their reasons for relocation, experiences and perspectives. The article shows the irrelevance of ethnic networks for local incorporation. It demonstrates the role played by the workplace and the Internet, which allows forming sociabilities based on commonalities and shared interests, irrespective of cultural differences. It also shows the inconsistency of the city's policies and calls for policy revision. The article concludes that Wroclaw's policy seems not to correspond with the specificity of professional migration. It is argued that the city's policy is based on sedimentary and assimilationist logic that does not take into account migrants’ reasons for relocation and perspectives.

Patterns of Middling Migrant Sociabilities: a Case Study of a Disempowered City and Towns

“…Despite persistent efforts, it proved to be impossible to find more informants of middling migrant status working in small cities and towns. Most migrants tend to concentrate in the nearby city of Wroclaw, which is, as already mentioned, the main city of the region (Jaskulowski 2018). The informants have consented to the use of the interviews for academic purposes on the understanding that they remain anonymous.…”

“…It should be mentioned that the main city in the region is Wroclaw (100 km from Opole, 40 km from Strzelin and 30 km from Jelcz-Laskowice), which is better positioned in the global economy and is one of the most successful cities in Poland for attracting foreign capital and high-skilled migrants. Nevertheless, the population of migrants in Wroclaw is also relatively low in comparison to major cities in Western Europe, at just 0.7% of the city's population (GUS 2011;Jaskulowski 2017Jaskulowski , 2018.…”

“…As we have seen, Wrocław is culturally rather homogeneous. Moreover, research shows that migrants in Wrocław have also experienced hostility, especially since the refugee crisis, which right-wing politicians have used to stir moral panic against culturally different immigrants, especially against Muslim refugees (Hodór and Kosińska 2016;Jaskulowski 2018Jaskulowski , 2019Krzyżanowska and Krzyżanowski 2018;Narkowicz 2018;Pędziwiatr 2018). Secondly, the informants extrapolated their own experience related to a rather specific social incorporation in Wrocław.…”

“…Secondly, the informants extrapolated their own experience related to a rather specific social incorporation in Wrocław. In other words, high-skilled migrants are integrated into a specific multicultural and middle-class corporate environment of international and Polish professionals in Wrocław, which is characterised by openness to the difference (Jaskulowski 2018).…”

“…Studies concerning the nearby city of Wroclaw demonstrate that most middle-class migrants who come there do not have children and usually are single (Jaskulowski 2018;Jaskulowski 2017). In contrast, the informants from Opole arrived with families and children.…”