The Migration Industry and Civil Society

Polish Immigrants in the United Kingdom Before and After EU Enlargement

Bibliographic Data

ID3606215
AuthorsMichał P Garapich (0000-0003-0248-6780, University of Roehampton, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume34
Issue5
Pages735-752
Publication date2008-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13691830802105970
OpenAlexW2065842378
LanguageEN
Citations received111
References cited30

Focusing on Polish migrants in the UK, this article seeks to emphasise the role of market forces in immigrants’ pathways to inclusion in the social and economic system of the host society. The traditional agents of civil society—voluntary organisations, state policies, the Polish Church or advocacy networks—have, before and after EU enlargement, been less prominent in responding to the immediate needs of recent migrants for information, networks and access to host-society institutions, than the migration industry as such—here understood as a particular sector of the service economy that stimulates mobility and eases adaptation. These profit-driven institutions are also in a position of power over information that is being distributed to migrants, although their sheer outreach has a positive impact on processes of integration overall. The argument in this article seeks to inform debates in political theory that see political and market forces as locked in contradiction over the reception of migrants. In fact, the lesson learned from the story of recent Polish migrants in the UK is that free access to the labour market is the crucial step towards overcoming the so-called ‘liberal paradox’ of migration politics, and to the successful integration of migrants into their host society

Civil society · Economics · European union · Immigration · International trade · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Resizing · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy