Przejdź do głównej treści Przejdź do nawigacji
Centre of Migration Research

Marta Kindler, Monika Szulecka. 2023.

Messy Arrangements? A Social Networks Perspective on Migrant Labor Brokerage: The Case of Ukrainian Migration to Poland

 

Polish Sociological Review, 220(4), 457-484. | pages: 457-484

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26412/psr220.03

FUNDING
National Science Centre, Poland, grant no 2014/15/D/HS4/01234.

Abstract

This article draws on two studies conducted between 2016 and 2018 on the nature of labor migration from Ukraine to Poland. Using quantitative and qualitative data, it analyses the relationship between social networks and employment agencies. Building on research into migration infrastructure, we question the dichotomy—which also appears in migrants’ narratives—between migrant social networks and labor brokers, and offer evidence of overlap and interdependence between the two. Exploring various aspects of labor migration, we look at the role played by the social networks of the actors (both the migrants and the intermediaries) in enhancing migration infrastructure. We show how migrants use their social capital in regard to labor brokers and how the latter, rather than replacing networks, mobilize their network resources and experience to create a trusted transnational service.

Research Projects