Issue 4 (194)

2024 (L)

Publication date: 03.04.2025

Description

COVER PHOTO: Jan Brzozowski, Podróż

Licence: CC BY

Editorial team

Additional redactors Agata Górny, Agnieszka Pasieka, Agnieszka Trąbka, Dorota Praszałowicz, Jan Brzozowski, Kamil Łuczaj, Karolina Łukasiewicz, Louise Ryan, Mary Erdmans, Michał Garapich, Mikołaj Stanek, Paweł Kaczmarczyk

Sekretarz redakcji Kamil Łuczaj

Editor-in-Chief Jan Brzozowski

Guest editors Katarzyna Winiecka, Małgorzata Dziekońska

Issue content

Migracje z i do Polski dwadzieścia lat po wstąpieniu do Unii Europejskiej

Katarzyna Winiecka, Małgorzata Dziekońska

Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Issue 4 (194), 2024 (L), pp. 7-14

https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.031.21314

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The European Dream of Polish Post-Accession Migrants

Rafał Raczyński

Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Issue 4 (194), 2024 (L), pp. 15-43

https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.019.20735

In recent years, post-accession migration, as an important social process, has become the subject of extensive research and analysis by representatives of various scientific disciplines. The causes for migration, the migration process and its outcomes were discussed from different perspectives and in different thematic and methodological contexts. This article is an attempt at viewing the phenomenon of post-accession migration from a novel perspective, one that links it to the category of ‘dreams’ [transl. note: as translated by the Polish term marzenia]. Its main theme revolves around the dreams [marzenia] of those who emigrated from Poland after May 2004. In the text, the author seeks to answer the following research questions: What role did dreams play in the decision to emigrate? Was emigration a dream in itself or merely a means to achieve a dream? What dreams, desires, and ideas did emigrants have about emigration? What were the opportunities to realise dreams before emigration and how are these plans shaping up now (in emigration)? Did emigration prove to be a dream come true or a disappointment? How do respondents evaluate the ‘European dream’ and how do they rate Poland’s presence in the European Union? The article has been compiled from research material consisting of 3264 computer-assisted questionnaire interviews and 15 individual in-depth interviews. The analysis of the material collected has led to the conclusion that ‘dreams’ (hopes and aspirations) should be considered as one of the driving forces behind emigration. As a rule, it is not the main causal factor, but it can be assumed that it is very often accompanied by other causal factors relating directly to, for example, material needs or the desired social status.

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Free Movement of Workers and Right of Establishment in Light of the Barriers and Challenges of the Italian Labour Market: a Case Study of Highly Skilled Polish Women Professionals

Kamila Kowalska

Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Issue 4 (194), 2024 (L), pp. 45-73

https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.020.20736

Labour migration from Poland to Italy initiated in the second half of the 1980s, being characterised by employment in the shadow economy and secondary segment of the labour market. In the following decades, significant changes in the nature of these flows have been registered as a result of the Iron Curtain’s fall, visa requirements abolition, Italian migration policy and finally with Poland’s accession to the EU. The aim of this article is to analyse to what extent the implementation of the free movement of workers and the right of establishment have equalised Poles’ employment opportunities in Italy, preventing their professional discrimination and ‘brain waste’. The research questions posed are the following: 1. have Poles improved their professional situation in Italy since 2004?; 2. what principal barriers and difficulties they faced; 3. and what strategies have they used to bypass the obstacles and build their careers? The discussion part of the paper is based on a case study of two mixed method research projects on highly skilled Polish female workers and women entrepreneurs in Italy. The choice of this target was driven by the predominance of women among Polish immigrants (feminisation) and the assumption that workers with high human capital and qualifications could potentially benefit most from the new adopted regulations. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that the structural and systemic barriers of the Italian labour market together with economic crisis and new emigration directions for Poles after 2004 have caused the myth of the attractiveness of the Italian labour market to collapse.

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Polska imigracja w USA w okresie poakcesyjnym. Portret statystyczny i przyczyny wyjazdów

Anna Fiń

Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Issue 4 (194), 2024 (L), pp. 75-103

https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.022.20738

The purpose of this text is to provide a general characteristic of Polish transatlantic post-accession migration and to examine how it differs from previous migration waves. Additionally, this analysis will evaluate the impact of these movements on the image of the Polish immigrant community in the USA and assess its alignment with broader patterns of overseas migration from Europe in the post-accession period. The analysis focuses on several categories of description, including the scale and dynamics of emigration, changes in settlement patterns, socio-economic characteristics, and the reasons for emigration to the USA in the post-accession era. The author additionally highlights the significance of the distinct manner in which temporary, circular, and undocumented migration is experienced by Polish (as well as other European migrants) in comparison to that of previous decades. Furthermore, she examines the new factors driving transatlantic migration from Poland. At the same time, an important aim of the article is to initiate a scholarly discussion on the possibility of changing the periodization and categorization used, in previous studies of European immigrant groups in the USA, to make them more responsive to the challenges of contemporary socio-cultural and political change.

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Osiedlenie przestrzenne i warunki mieszkaniowe imigrantów: przykład białoruskich imigrantów w Białymstoku w świetle danych pozyskanych na Facebooku

Mark Narbut

Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Issue 4 (194), 2024 (L), pp. 105-135

https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.026.20926

The article presents the results of an exploratory study to determine the spatial aspects of settlement and housing conditions of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok. The study was carried out using an online survey method among members of two groups of Belarusian immigrants on Facebook. The timeliness of this article is due to the following reasons: first, Bialystok is a big city located near the Polish-Belarusian border, where the number of registered Belarusian immigrants is one of the highest in Poland; second, the study of spatial aspects of settlement and housing conditions of immigrants is an important element in the analysis of adaptation and integration of immigrants in the new place of settlement. The main research questions were: is there a voluntary spatial concentration of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok? What are the housing conditions of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok? Analysis of the data obtained from the online survey showed that the spatial settlement of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok is characterized by a moderate voluntary concentration in the city center and in settlements adjacent to the center. The specific nature of the settlement of Belarusian residents in Bialystok is explained by the specific morphology of urban development and immigrants’ preferences. The housing conditions of Belarusian immigrants in Bialystok were identified as meeting their criteria and corresponding to their preferences, not significantly different from the housing conditions of the average autochthonous resident of the city, which is conducive to facilitating the process of adaptation in the new environment and further integration into the host society.

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Migracje międzynarodowe w programach Ogólnopolskich Zjazdów Socjologicznych przed i po 2004 roku

Barbara Cieślińska

Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Issue 4 (194), 2024 (L), pp. 137-153

https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.024.20740

The topic of the article is the analysis of the programs of the National Sociological Congresses in the years 1990–2022 in terms of the presence of migration issues. The programs of 11 congresses were analysed. After Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004, a strong increase in interest in international migration is becoming more and more visible. However, as time passes and subsequent congresses take place, the subject of migration changes from issues related to the outflow of people from Poland to issues related to the influx of foreigners into Poland.

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Dominika Pszczółkowska: How Migrants Choose their Destinations. Factors Influencing Post-EU Accession Choices and Decisions to Remain (Routledge, 2024: open access)

Anne White

Migration Studies – Review of Polish Diaspora, Issue 4 (194), 2024 (L), pp. 155-158

https://doi.org/10.4467/25444972SMPP.24.023.20739

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Title and imprint pages PDF Contents PDF About the Authors PDF

Słowa kluczowe: post-accession migration, dreams in migration, Polish emigration, Poland’s accession to the EU, Polish post-accession migration, free movement of workers, Polish immigration in Italy, female migration, highly skilled workers, Polish immigration in the USA, European immigration in the USA, Polish Americans/ Polonia, socio-economic mobility, transatlantic migration, US immigration, spatial settlement, housing conditions, Belarusian immigrants, Bialystok, international migrations, Polish Sociological Congress, congress programme, thematic groups

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