ABSTRACT

The study captures how contextual factors have affected the experiences of skilled Polish migrants in two locations, Amsterdam and Berlin. Drawing from interviews with 60 Poles I demonstrate how perceived attitudes of natives towards migrants, cultural closeness or distance with a majority group and specific characteristics of the destination city can be key facilitators or obstacles in shaping migrants’ sense of belonging. I am pointing to a greater importance of socio-cultural than economic factors in the process of developing a sense of belonging. Nevertheless, these factors remain under the limited influence of migrants. The article demonstrates how migrants’ subjective belonging relates to their experience of integration and thus general level of comfort in a city.

摘要

这项研究揭示了情境因素如何影响了阿姆斯特丹和柏林这两个地区的熟练波兰移民的经验。通过对60名波兰人的采访，我证明了土著人对移民的态度，与多数群体的文化亲密感或距离以及目的地城市的特定特征如何成为塑造移民归属感的关键推动因素或障碍。我指的是，在发展归属感的过程中，社会文化因素比经济因素更为重要。然而，这些因素仍然受到移民的有限影响。这篇文章展示了移民的主观归属如何与他们的融合经历以及城市总体舒适度相关。