Constraining Labour: The integration dynamics of working-class horticultural migrants in rural areas of Norway, the UK and the US.

Scott, Sam ORCID: 0000-0002-5951-4749 and Visser, Anne (2022) Constraining Labour: The integration dynamics of working-class horticultural migrants in rural areas of Norway, the UK and the US. Sociologia Ruralis, 62 (1). pp. 112-130. doi:10.1111/soru.12363

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Abstract

This paper argues that many low-wage migrants moving to work in rural areas of the developed world end up in very specific and precarious employment and housing contexts: working in temporary/ seasonal jobs within horticultural labour markets; and often living in employer-provided tied accommodation. This context – which we profile by drawing on qualitative case-study evidence from Norway, the UK and the US – makes integration virtually impossible. It is only after moving on from precarious temporary/ seasonal work and out from tied accommodation that rural integration becomes viable. Yet, even then, the integration of these workers is often limited. Migrants are largely “quarantined” and separate and invisible from the host society. Not surprisingly, migrants tend to treat their lack of rural integration as “liminal” i.e. a temporary and in-between life-stage. They also engage in “transnational simultaneity” by maintaining family/ communal relations back home, whilst focusing largely on work in the host country. This liminality and transnational simultaneity help working-class migrants survive their quarantined lives.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Class; Housing; Integration; Labour; Migration; Rural
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General) G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GF Human geography. Human ecology. Anthropogeography H Social Sciences > HM Sociology S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education and Science
Research Priority Areas:	Place, Environment and Community
Depositing User:	Sam Scott
Date Deposited:	09 Dec 2021 13:55
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2023 04:15
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/10446

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