The Institute of Philosophy of the Research Centre for the Humanities of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences kindly invites you to the upcoming talk of its seminar series:
Rafał Smoczynski
"The gentry informed habitus in social distance strategies of Polish migrants in the UK"
Date and Venue of the lecture: 31st March 2015, 2.00 pm (special start time!), Institute of Philosophy, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 30. Országház Street, 2. floor, "Pepita" room.
There is a literature demonstrating internal conflicts within the Polish post-accession migrant community in the UK, which have been explained mainly in terms of migrants’ stiff labour market competition. Without denying the relevance of this argument this presentation assumes that the explanation of the antagonisms affecting Polish migrant community should exceed the perspective of labour market competition alone and needs to acknowledge the role of Polish post-gentry habitus, which provides a repertoire of available discursive strategies used for interpreting antagonistic situations both in Poland and among Poles abroad. It will be argued that the post-gentry habitus can critically legitimise intergroup inequalities in status and symbolic power but also may impact the patterns of a migrant’s integration, linkage to social networks, access to different capital resources, and interactions with the indigenous population.
