Recent works by organisational anthropologists have identified bureaucracy as a major challenge for unskilled workers in the global economy. Daily encounters with bureaucratic processes only enhance general feelings of inadequacy, frustration and insecurity experienced by social groups who have to rely on precarious work. However, a focus on people’s homespun strategies and on the role of the non-profit sector in helping them to navigate bureaucracy is still incipient. The paper aims to discuss these issues.,The research, ethnographic in its approach, unveils some of these challenges by drawing on 29 interviews with migrant workers in a third sector organisation in Manchester, UK. It explores migrants’ work experiences and aspirations, and the strategies used to navigate the bureaucracy embedded in the organisation of their lives. Informed by the different roles the researcher performed at the centre and by the inter-disciplinary nature of the projects, the methodology includes interviews, participative observation, analysis of life story narratives and drawings, and participation in community workshops.,While acknowledging that bureaucracy can keep people in liminal spaces and enhance their sense of insecurity, this paper reveals how personal aspirations and the ability to make connections across different social networks provide the much needed drive that enables migrants to acquire language skills, a tool that helps them to learn the ropes of bureaucratic processes, become culturally savvy, and leave the stage of quasi-citizenship.,Responses highlight the significance of recent welfare reforms and reveal adaptive mechanisms to deal with resulting uncertainties, which include the use of a variety of social networks, learning hew digital and language skills, and seeking specialized knowledge found in organisations in the third sector. The study also questions the taken-for-granted rationality of bureaucracy, unveiling its messy and ambiguous logic.

中文翻译：

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“有时您不知道该如何移动”文化上的精明和学习官僚主义的绳索

组织人类学家最近的工作表明，官僚主义是全球经济中非技术工人的主要挑战。日常与官僚主义过程的接触只会加剧那些不得不依靠不稳定工作的社会团体所经历的普遍不足，沮丧和不安全感。但是，人们的家务劳动战略和非营利部门在帮助他们渡过官僚机构中的作用仍处于初期阶段。本文旨在讨论这些问题。民族志方面的研究通过对英国曼彻斯特第三部门组织中的移民工人进行了29次访谈，揭示了其中一些挑战。它探讨了移民的工作经验和抱负，以及用于引导官僚机构融入其生活的战略。其中包括使用各种社交网络，学习数字和语言技能，并寻求在第三部门的组织中发现的专业知识。这项研究还质疑官僚主义的理所当然的合理性，揭示了它凌乱而模棱两可的逻辑。