Many of Vienna’s labor migrants who entered Austria as so-called “guest workers” together with their spouses long nurtured the dream of returning to their country of origin, at the latest when they retired. By then, however, returning became less than straightforward leading to ambivalence regarding questions of belonging/return and transnational mobility and late-life care. Based on rich qualitative data, in this article, I show that ambivalences are found in the complexity of migrants’ narratives, particularly in the way they (1) reassess past choices, (2) negotiate feelings of belonging, and (3) assess future options for late life and care. I argue that the social dimension of ambivalence, which I term “relational ambivalence,” is crucial to understanding the labor migrants’ experiences, reflections, and choices. The analysis shows that ambivalence must be understood as a product of relationships rather than solely an individual experience. The concept of relational ambivalence captures these social and discursive dimensions of ambivalence. The article ultimately carves out the particularity of ambivalence in the general context of migration and in the specific context of Vienna’s labor migrants, while accepting feelings of ambivalence or the simultaneity of different, opposing positions in one and the same person as a core human experience.

中文翻译：

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关系矛盾：探索矛盾的社会和话语维度——以土耳其老龄劳工移民为例

许多以所谓的“客工”身份进入奥地利的维也纳劳工移民与他们的配偶长期以来一直怀揣着回到原籍国的梦想，最迟在他们退休时。然而，到那时，返回变得不那么简单，导致在归属/返回、跨国流动和晚年护理问题上产生矛盾。基于丰富的定性数据，在本文中，我表明在移民叙述的复杂性中发现了矛盾心理，特别是在他们 (1) 重新评估过去的选择，(2) 协商归属感，以及 (3) 评估未来晚年生活和护理的选择。我认为，矛盾心理的社会维度，我称之为“关系矛盾心理”，对于理解劳务移民的经历、反思和选择至关重要。分析表明，矛盾心理必须被理解为关系的产物，而不仅仅是个人经历。关系矛盾心理的概念抓住了矛盾心理的这些社会和话语维度。文章最终在移民的一般语境和维也纳劳工移民的特定语境中阐述了矛盾心理的特殊性，同时将矛盾情绪或同一个人不同对立立场的同时性作为核心人类体验。