Mapping social science research on Brexit and migration

Polish migration to the UK post European Union enlargement has been studied extensively but limited attention has been paid to women and their gendered mobility. In this paper…

This article explores the media’s influence on perceptions of Brexit among Polish immigrants in the UK and particularly how this influence shaped their knowledge and emotional responses.

This book explores the attitudes of Polish migrants towards the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union and considers possible return migration trajectories that may result. Based on quantitative sociological research conducted in Britain…

Borderlands are not easy to define. They can be a physical territory, a territory where communities and cultures meet, or where their ideologies meet; they can also refer to microterritories of one’s identity, and more besides. In the article…

This study investigates the reintegration of tacit skills among Polish and Lithuanian migrants returning from the UK amid Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a CAWI survey of 740 returnees, it explores the application of tacit skills acquired abroad in their origin countries’ labor markets.

Migrant activism, particularly of Polish migrants in the UK, is a dynamic and interesting area in which to exploring intersections of social movement theory, politics, and global communication. This article examines the role of “transmigrants”…

This article explores stay-return motivations among Polish migrant essential workers in the UK and how the combination of Brexit and Covid-19 shapes them. It conceptualises Brexit and Covid-19 as polycrisis, ie multiple…

Drawing from a qualitative longitudinal study with young migrants from Lithuania and Poland in the UK, this chapter explores how they understand the category of social class and position themselves in the racialised British class system.

By removing rights from British citizens and EU27 citizens in the UK, Brexit has redefined the value of national citizenships. This article shows the experiences of British citizens living in Belgium and the UK who considered obtaining Irish or Italian citizenship by descent…

This article applies the concept of Britain as a community of citizens and a community of communities to the analysis of post-2004 Polish migrants. This concept received its clearest articulation in the 2000 report on The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain chaired by Bhikhu Parekh…

Although research on return migration is growing, little is known about returnees’ plans and attitudes regarding further migration. This article contributes to the filling of this knowledge gap by studying the likelihood of engaging in further mobility among Polish and Lithuanian returnees.

The life strategies of Polish post-accession migrants built after 2004 were based on the specific conditions then prevailing in Poland and the UK. However, conditions have changed over the years and recent events – particularly Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic…

Many Central and Eastern European countries recognized the benefits of migration of their citizens after the EU enlargement in 2004, such as financial remittances and obtaining education abroad.

The European Union expansion in 2004 resulted in a large-scale migration from less ethnically diverse Poland to multicultural societies. Many Polish migrants have become conscious of being white due to contact with people of colour, and at times…

This article takes the concept of spatial imaginaries to explore how the post-Brexit negotiations shifted meanings of 'Europe' for Polish migrants residing in Scotland. A flourishing subfield of 'Brexit geographies' has explored the meaning and consequences of Brexit (as an event…

Objective: Central and Eastern European (CEE) migrants are a large minority group in the UK who are vulnerable to experiencing mental health problems. However, due to their shared ‘whiteness’ with the majority population, health service disparities may be overlooked.

This article presents findings collected in 2016-2017 from a multi-method ethnographic study of Shirebrook, Derbyshire in the English East Midlands, examining the narratives used by the local authority (LA) and local residents that construct immigration as a social problem. In doing so…

This paper focuses on the intra-EU movement of young adults from Finland, Poland, and Spain who have settled, short- or long-term, in London and its wider region. In our comparative analysis…

In this paper, we bring together two concepts that we have been developing separately over recent years, to challenge linear and simplistic notions of migrant integration, depict multi-dimensional processes of settling and changeability over time.

The 2016 UK’s vote to leave the European Union (i.e. Brexit) has evoked a sense of insecurity and non-belonging among EU citizens and other migrant and minoritised ethnic communities in British cities. Against this backdrop…

Immigration was a decisive factor in pre-Brexit-vote debates and it remains one of the most divisive topics globally; therefore, it is worthy of attention. Whilst the British people had an opportunity to have their say on Brexit, EU migrant workers have not.

A body of recent literature has examined how migrants from Eastern European countries have been racialised in the UK both pre- and post-Brexit, and has explored the limits of their earlier assumed 'invisibility' owing to their perceived whiteness.

This chapter explores the hugely important role that low-cost airline carriers have been playing in the lives of Polish migrants to the United Kingdom (UK) since Poland joined the European Union in 2004. First…

Intra-EU migrants have traditionally faced few pressures or incentives to formalize their “permanent” residence or to naturalize in their EU host countries. Focusing on the United Kingdom and combining an analysis of secondary administrative data and primary online survey data (N = 1,413)…

Europe has recently become closely associated with LGBTQ rights. It remains unclear, however, what is the role of this association in everyday European imaginations and identifications. Empirical research on European identity hardly ever discusses the role of LGBTQ rights.

This chapter discusses the post-Brexit condition from the perspective of the margin: of an outsider to Britain as well as of Britain’s marginal men, migrants from Poland. It considers anti-immigrant populism and austerity as transnational rather than national phenomena. Thereby…

Migration under the European Union's (EU) Freedom of Movement is constructed as temporary and circular, implying that migrants respond to changing circumstances by returning home or moving elsewhere. This construction underpins predictions of an exodus of EU migrants from the United Kingdom (UK)…

There are many studies of migration that focus on the economic and social impact of immigration, but the effect that migration has on cultural practices is less explored. Working with Lithuanian and Polish communities in Lincolnshire between 2016 and 2018…

Nowadays, migration to the United Kingdom remains to be one of the most debatable issues as far as the Brexit is concerned. Many speculations have been made regarding the impact of Brexit and its effect on the social and economic status of the UK.

The main aim of this paper is to assess the extent to which the 2016 Brexit referendum impacted on the decisions of young Polish and Lithuanian migrants to stay in the UK or return to the country of origin.

This article aims to examine how sociopolitical changes impact language ideology and linguistic practices within transnational multilingual families with a particular focus on families with ties to Poland in post-EU-referendum Britain.

The power of nationalism is evident in how people perceive the world around them as `normal'. A national normality is constituted through education and media but also in everyday encounters with the state or state-regulated institutions in the fields of education, welfare provisions, medical care…

Following EU enlargement in 2004, the United Kingdom and Ireland experienced large-scale migration from Poland and other new EU states.

The fate of European citizens living in the United Kingdom was a key issue linked with Britain's departure from the European Union. Official statistics show that some outflow has taken place, but it was no Brexodus. This article investigates Brexit's impact within a theoretical (push-pull)…

In recent years the public discourses on Polish migration in the UK have rapidly turned hostile, especially in the context of economic crisis in 2008, and subsequently after the EU referendum in 2016.