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Social Anchoring in Superdiverse Transnational Social Spaces

Final Report Summary - SAST (Social Anchoring in Superdiverse Transnational Social Spaces)

The project “Social Anchoring in Super-diverse Transnational Social Spaces” had four main objectives: 1. To develop a multidimensional methodological approach and tools adequate for studying social anchoring, 2. To identify types of anchors and reveal the mechanisms of anchoring used by migrants, 3. To research how migrants use their identity as resource in the process of integration into a receiving society and adaptation to transnational social fields and 4. To develop the concept of social anchoring.
The project led to the development of the concept of social anchoring defined as the process of finding significant footholds which enable migrants to establish their psycho-sociological stability and function in a new country.
The development of the project had a cyclical character and the concept of social anchoring was built through fieldwork research with Polish migrants in the UK and Ukrainian migrants in Poland. In total 80 individual in-depth interviews and questionnaires were conducted - 40 with post-accession Polish immigrants in the UK and 40 with recent (post-2004) Ukrainian immigrants in Poland. Different kinds of research tools were developed and employed in the study. During minimally structured Individual In-depth Interviews (IDIs) migrants were encouraged to speak freely about their emigration and life abroad around five general topics: 1) their life prior to migration; 2) their departure to a new country; 3) the beginning of life in a new country; 4) changes in their life over time, and 5) their current life. Afterwards, some projective techniques were employed. A “fresh paper” test was proposed to the interviewees, who were asked to sketch a spontaneous and creative picture (in the form of a diagram) of their anchors. After introducing the concept of anchors as footholds, points of reference, the issues of particular importance in migrants’ lives, structured interviews focused on the indicated anchors and those potentially missed. The interviews were followed by a sentence completion test and a set of questions concerning different anchors in the lives of the interviewees. Then, a questionnaire on basic socio-demographic and migration data and including scales measuring the self-assessed levels of adaptation, integration, life problems and satisfaction was administrated. In addition, in the UK autobiographical research was carried out throughout the project, accompanied by participant observation, thanks to author’s position as a migrant herself and her daily contacts with various Polish migrants living in the UK. Supplementary material for the analysis comprised a sample of texts from forum discussions, blogs and diaries published by Polish and Ukrainian migrants in the Internet, providing examples of “unguided” narratives where the processes of anchoring were also examined.
The study confirmed the crucial importance of stability and security in migrants' perception and their various attempts to establish life footholds in new societies. The accounts of the migrants studied showed that successful integration depends very much on an open attitude, motivation to learn and change, activity in making use of opportunities and potential social connections which are available.
Based on the content analysis of the material from the interviews and observation, the following main types of anchors were identified among Polish migrants in the UK: 1) own family and 2) circle of social support; 3) Polish language and culture; 4) home and housekeeping activities; 5) Polish school; 6) (Polish) church and religion; 7) British welfare institutions, 8) work; 9) children’s school and other activities; 10) learning English 11) neighbours and local community and 12) free-time practices. Anchors 1-6 mainly contribute to maintaining Polish identity and ethnic ties whereas 8-11 can potentially be used to facilitate the integration of Polish migrants, along with anchor 12 which may perform both functions.
The research showed the Polish migrants' strong attachment to Polish identity and culture as well as own family (supported by a close circle of relatives and friends) and work as the most important anchors. Learning English appeared to be their most difficult challenge but paradoxically this was also a sphere of possible encounter and building social relations transcending respondents’ Polishness.
The majority of the migrants studied were family focused migrants for whom children and own nuclear families constituted the main anchors. These migrants were also anchored in narrow circles of other Polish relatives and friends, and were rather unwilling to establish new social anchors outside the Polish community. Children’s school and pre/after school activities and language courses provide space for social connections outside the Polish group. Actual employment and work opportunities were yet another foothold for these migrants, although it did not play such a prominent role as in the group of self-focused migrants. The latter were relatively the most open to and active in integration though social anchoring beyond the Polish community. They predominantly established footholds on the basis of their work. Neither family nor work usually formed the centre of life for the few male homeless migrants who were mainly anchored in governmental and non-governmental institutions and groups of their Polish mates. In general, the research revealed relatively low social engagement of the respondents beyond the Polish community and individual interpersonal ties, although due to its specificity quite a substantial group of the interviewees were actually involved in voluntary activities focused on the Polish community in the UK.
Ukrainian migrants were in general less settled, more mobile and involved in transnational processes than Polish migrants in UK, often living apart from members of their families remaining in Ukraine or other countries. Migrants from Ukraine in Poland belonged to broader social networks including both Poles and other migrants, were more socially active and engaged. Similar language and culture contributed to their feeling of familiarity in Poland and facilitated contact with Polish society. While some migrants kept their ethnic identity, many others could be characterised by mixed identities or experienced the processes of assimilation in terms of culture and identity. One of the most visible processes of anchoring was linked to securing a certain legal status (e.g. leave to remain or settlement). The feeling of security, particularly related to the safer environment, more predictable life conditions and more effective institutions in Poland than in Ukraine, was also stressed by migrants from Ukraine.
The project highlighted a number of significant features of anchoring. First, the multidimensionality and unevenness of anchoring (e.g. material, social, legal, institutional, habitual, cultural). Second, the fact that anchoring should be seen as a process changing over time, with a crucial initial period when migrants are particularly mobilised and open to change, and then visible periods of ups and downs related to different life changes and crises. Third, the reversibility of the examined phenomenon: that is, disconnecting from previous anchors (un-anchoring) is another significant aspect which needs to be further examined. Fourth, the processes of anchoring can have a transnational character in the sense that migrants can maintain tangible, cognitive or virtual anchors crossing state borders and linking them with various geographical localities. Fifth, the concept of social anchoring can not only be used for further research with different groups of migrants, but also has a potential to be employed to develop practical applications useful for migrant adaptation and integration.