Discussing the Role of Aspirations in Migrant Integration: The Case Study of 1980s Polish Emigrants’ Adaptation in Western Europe

Magdalena Wnuk ()
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Magdalena Wnuk: Institute of Literary Research Polish Academy of Sciences

Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2024, vol. 25, issue 3, No 27, 1667-1686

Abstract: Abstract Building on aspirations and capabilities models in migration studies, this paper explores the utility of this approach for elucidating long-term integration processes. Aspirations as individual constructions of what one’s life should look like in the future are a concept used by scholars to study migrants’ motives to migrate. However, neither are aspirations an often applied analytical category, nor a sufficiently examined theoretical subject in the area of long-term migration. This paper addresses this gap and applies the category of aspirations and capabilities to the study of long-term adaptation processes of Polish emigrants of the 1980s in three European countries: Austria, Italy and Sweden. The case study illustrates the aspirations/capabilities model’s usability for studying integration processes and proves that aspirations and capabilities should be a subject of inquiry throughout migrants’ lives. As a contribution to the debate, an analytical framework along with a schema depicting live long migration processes is proposed.

Keywords: 1980s emigration from Poland; Aspirations; Capabilities; Immigrant integration; Agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s12134-024-01133-0

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