Foreigner, migrant, or refugee? How laypeople label those who cross borders

Abstract

In this article, we seek to exercise reflexivity in migration research by looking at the symbolic boundary work that sustains laypeople’s understanding and use of specific labels. We do so through a qualitative, cultural sociological investigation of migration attitudes in Czechia. We explore the labels foreigner, migrant, and refugee, commonly used labels in Czech migration discourse. In short, we argue that research participants rely on different grounds for boundary work, informed by available cultural repertoires, when characterizing foreigners, migrants, and refugees. While boundary work related to the label foreigner calls upon criteria of citizenship and perceived cultural closeness, the boundary work concerning the other two labels—migrant and refugee—involves the moral criteria of deservingness. Our study addresses three major shortcomings in migration studies. First, the opinions of laypeople influence public policies and approaches to migration, yet in-depth qualitative studies of migration attitudes are scarce. Second, even though migration attitudes shape the character of the receiving context for people who cross borders, how laypeople engage with labels remains understudied. Finally, we heed the call for a ‘reflexive turn’ in migration studies, arguing that researchers must remain reflexive, not only about labels they use, but also how such labels are understood and used by research participants.

The Ukrainian Refugee “Crisis” and the (Re)production of Whiteness in Austrian and Czech Public Politics

“…5 These and other conversations with those who have escaped the war and those that help refugees to cope with the first challenges of life abroad point to the potential risks of exclusion, which stands in stark contrast to the mission espoused in official EU documents, namely, "fostering self-reliance and enabling the displaced to live in dignity as contributors to their host societies, until voluntary return or resettlement." 6 These risks are common for forced migrants, even in the case of Ukrainian refugees, for whom the intersectionality of gender, race, class, and nation has afforded a privileged position in the local "hierarchy of tolerance" (Božič et al 2022). In European countries following the Directive of the EU, Ukrainian refugees have already received more opportunities for integration, including better health insurance and more options for implementing the right to work, than refugees from the Middle East or even those from Ukraine who arrived after the annexation of Crimea and the escalation of the military operation in eastern Ukraine in the period between 2014 and 2022.…”

Creating and Dissolving ‘Identity’ in Global Mobility Studies: A Multi-scalar Inquiry of Belongingness and Becoming On-the-move

“…The interpretation of speech acts infuses meaning systems on the receiving end, possibly sparking self-identifications, resistance or rejection, as exemplified in the case of highly qualified foreign knowledge workers rejecting being addressed as 'expatriate'. Those who are designated might admit or refute the suitability of the categorisation for oneself as it occurs (Beck et al 2023;Božič et al, 2023;Cranston, 2017;. For the mobilities and migration nexus, this leads us to affirm that migrant representations and the performativity of classifications are context-dependent and situational.…”

“…The approach of problematisation embraces the aspiration of scholars in reflexive migration studies to deconstruct and question conventional categorisations, to be attentive to what we observe and sense: the situatedness of real people who move across real space, with all the complexities this may entail (Favell, 2007;Horvath, Amelina, Peters;. Moreover, this contribution complements recent studies that explore labelling acts amongst non-expert populations (Božič et al, 2023), emphasising the importance to further deepen understandings about colloquial acts of labelling across social fields. It provides insights on debates on conceptual clarity in management studies McNulty & Brewster, 2017), by suggesting that categorisations need to be understood as fluctuating, situational and contextually intertwined.…”

“…Migration, as a theme, has matured within and beyond the boundaries of the designated field of migration studies, as scholars observe, and is thereby subjected to a multiplicity of conceptualisations, as well as to disciplinary and paradigmatic specificities (Pisarevskaya et al, 2020). Fragmented and at times contradictory analytical categorisations of 'migrants' circulate in academic work, all whilst being distinct from designations that occur in every-day discourse of laypeople (Božič et al, 2023). In general, sociologists observe that meanings and applications of categories of analysis diverge from so-called categories of practice, which are dynamically deployed by multiple actors across society .…”

“…Along this vein, studies confirm that ethnicity, racialization and stereotyping come into play when distinguishing 'migrants' from 'expatriates', revealing social hierarchies and a lack of inclusiveness more broadly (Bell, Kwesiga and Berry, 2010;Cranston, 2017). However, only few works examine how specific labels are used in broader public and popular discourse in the field, in practice, beyond academic taxonomies (Božič et al 2023;Crawley & Skleparis, 2018).…”