Polish labour migration: a study of transnational mobility in the UK in the context of economic transformation

This research explores the impact of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union on the migratory experiences of Poles. It investigates the way the cross-EU free-movement regime contributes to their vulnerability and unequal labour practices. It suggests that the structural position and the experiences of Poles indicate their disempowerment, while European integration reproduces the unequal treatment of Polish migrants in the ‘old’ Member States. This is argued to be the outcome of the peripheral position of Poles in the EU single market during the early post-enlargement period, which is reproduced upon arrival at the “centre” or “core” of the EU. Moreover, the process is reinforced by the migration experiences as an outcome of structural pressures that are perceived as aspirational and promising. Therefore, this dissertation invites us to think how, by what means and under what circumstances migrants consent to be exploited.