‘It is English and there is no Alternative’: Intersectionality, Language and Social/Organizational Differentiation of Polish Migrants in the UK

Abstract

In this paper, we employ an intersectional approach to explore language as a process of social and organizational differentiation of Polish migrant workers in the UK. In addition to intersectionality, our conceptual framework is informed by a sociolinguistic perspective on globalization, which accounts for the social differentiation produced by language in transnational contexts. Empirically, the paper is based on a qualitative study employing life history interviews. Our findings show that for a migrant worker, the ability to negotiate access to employment and other key institutional settings depends to a large extent on her or his linguistic abilities. However, as we demonstrate, it is necessary to account for the intersections of language and other processes such as gender, class and nationality to understand how the social and organizational positions as experienced by the participants are shaped by broader processes and practices of differentiation. Our study contributes to the extant literature on intersectionality by specifically considering the intersection of language with other categories, and by relating intersectionality to contemporary debates on migration.

The diversification of inequality

“…This can, for instance, be seen in two contrasting small‐scale studies of language use. Johanssen and Sliwa () in their research on Polish employment in Britain see language skills as a new dimension of intersectionality, which can be negative (lack of native language skills) or positive (through cross‐border language repertoires). This is not dissimilar to the linguistics of Mutsaers and Swanenberg (), based on superdiversity, which sees language variation amongst ethnic minorities (in the Netherlands) as enabling a wider range of repertoires and resources.…”

Embodied intersectionality and the intersectional management of hotel labour: The everyday experiences of social differentiation in customer‐oriented work

“…We show how micro-level encounters between different actors and management stereotyping of workers and customers' characteristics contribute to reinforce long-lasting structures of exclusion, power hierarchies and social/organizational differentiation in an increasingly migrant workforce (Johansson & Śliwa, 2016), but also how they constitute contested terrains where workers selectively appropriate or reject the performance of such social differences through practices of embodied intersectionality.…”

Dominant Language Acquisition in Destination Countries: Structure, Agency and Reflexivity

“…We also build on the work of Bourdieu (1981) in engaging with the symbolic power of language as well as habitual, unconscious processes relating to its use. Additionally, our study engages with research which has revealed the role of language in forming and expressing perceptions of identity (Temple, 2010;Johansson and Śliwa, 2014) and a growing body of work on the role of emotions in acquiring a destination country language (Hinds et al, 2014;Tenzer and Pudelko, 2015). We argue that this approach provides a more complete picture of the complex process through which migrants acquire the dominant language in their new environment than theories which focus solely on rational processes or habitual dispositions.…”

“…The role of language in communicating migrants' identity has also been firmly established (Temple, 2010;Johansson and Śliwa, 2014). For instance, Johansson and Śliwa (2014) have highlighted that language not only plays an important role in differentiating between individuals, socially and organisationally, but also intertwines with other processes of social positioning, such as gender and ethnicity.…”