Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The study examines recent Polish migrations to London and the socio-cultural consequences for Poland and the UK as well as individual narratives about ethnicity, class, migration and multicultural Britain. This dataset consists of 57 qualitative, semi-structured face-to-face interviews with Polish nationals living in London and their friends and family in four locations in Poland. There is also one set of fieldwork notes conducted in Poland. Interviews were conducted in Polish and transcribed directly into English by the researcher. A majority of interviewees had been in London for no more than two years. Although some in the sample were very recent migrants, others had been living in the capital for almost a decade. Interviews were conducted across sections of age, education and occupational activity and the sample was weighted in order to be consistent with the more general statistical data gathered by the Home Office Workers Registration Scheme and the Labour Force Survey. The study asked interconnected questions, such as: in what terms do Polish migrant workers understand their socio-economic position within both London's market and in Poland, and in what ways can their understandings of both be analysed in terms of analytical distinctions between class and ethnicity? Also, what social and economic links did respondents maintain with relatives and friends in Poland? Further information is available from the ESRC Class and Ethnicity: Polish Migrant Workers in London award page or the Surrey University Class and Ethnicity: Polish Migrant Workers in London project web page.
Main Topics:
Migration, Polish, transnationalism, class
Quasi-random (eg random walk) sample
Convenience sample
Sampling used a combination of methods – small scale snow-balling along with randomly seeking individuals fitting the overall profile of Polish migrants as derived from general datasets (Workers Registration Scheme and Labour Force Survey). The sample in Poland have been selected purely on the basis of referral.
Face-to-face interview
Observation
In-depth semi-structured interviews
