Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Whiteness, ethnic privilege and migration: a Bourdieuian framework

Whiteness, ethnic privilege and migration: a Bourdieuian framework Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First it offers an innovative conceptual framework for exploring how whiteness shapes ethnic privilege and disadvantage at work. Second it offers empirical evidence of the complexity of ethnic privilege and disadvantage explored through experiences of migrant workers from post‐socialist Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) on the UK labour market. Design/methodology/approach – Using a Bourdieuian conceptual framework the paper begins from the historical and macro socio‐economic context of EU enlargement eastwards in order to explore whiteness and the complexity of ethnic privilege at work through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with 35 Polish and Slovenian migrant workers in the UK. Findings – The findings highlight racial segmentation of the UK labour market, expose various shades of whiteness that affect CEE workers’ position and their agency and point to relational and transnational workings of whiteness and their effects on diverse workforce. Research limitations/implications – Research has implications for diversity policies within organisations and wider social implications for building solidarity amongst diverse labour. Future research could increase generalisation of findings and further illuminate the complexity of ethnic privilege. Originality/value – The paper contributes to management and organisational literature by offering a Bourdieuian conceptual framework for analysing whiteness and the complexity of ethnic privilege at work. It uncovers intersectional, transnational and relational workings of whiteness that shape ethnic privilege and disadvantage at work and speak of ongoing colonising and racialising processes that are part of contemporary capitalism. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Managerial Psychology Emerald Publishing

Whiteness, ethnic privilege and migration: a Bourdieuian framework

Barbara Samaluk
Journal of Managerial Psychology , Volume 29 (4): 19 – May 6, 2014
Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/whiteness-ethnic-privilege-and-migration-a-bourdieuian-framework-Ysme0TbrPM

References (120)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0268-3946
DOI
10.1108/JMP-03-2012-0096
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First it offers an innovative conceptual framework for exploring how whiteness shapes ethnic privilege and disadvantage at work. Second it offers empirical evidence of the complexity of ethnic privilege and disadvantage explored through experiences of migrant workers from post‐socialist Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) on the UK labour market. Design/methodology/approach – Using a Bourdieuian conceptual framework the paper begins from the historical and macro socio‐economic context of EU enlargement eastwards in order to explore whiteness and the complexity of ethnic privilege at work through semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with 35 Polish and Slovenian migrant workers in the UK. Findings – The findings highlight racial segmentation of the UK labour market, expose various shades of whiteness that affect CEE workers’ position and their agency and point to relational and transnational workings of whiteness and their effects on diverse workforce. Research limitations/implications – Research has implications for diversity policies within organisations and wider social implications for building solidarity amongst diverse labour. Future research could increase generalisation of findings and further illuminate the complexity of ethnic privilege. Originality/value – The paper contributes to management and organisational literature by offering a Bourdieuian conceptual framework for analysing whiteness and the complexity of ethnic privilege at work. It uncovers intersectional, transnational and relational workings of whiteness that shape ethnic privilege and disadvantage at work and speak of ongoing colonising and racialising processes that are part of contemporary capitalism.

Journal

Journal of Managerial Psychology – Emerald Publishing

Published: May 6, 2014

Keywords: Migrant workers; UK; Bourdieu; Ethnic privilege; Post‐socialist Europe; Postcolonial whiteness

There are no references for this article.