Downward professional mobility, cultural difference and immigrant niches: Dynamics of and changes to migrants’ attitudes towards interpersonal communication and work performance

Abstract

Immigrants’ labour market participation is a crucial indicator of their assimilation within the host societies. The workplace is a key site of intercultural transmission, where migrants receive opportunities to recognise, evaluate and prospectively adapt to the norms, values and standards of the new socio-cultural field. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews with Poles working below their skill level in Norway, this article analyses two work-related areas where cultural difference is encountered: (1) interpersonal communication and (2) work performance and attitude. Migrants take jobs in niche economies, thereby working below their qualifications. Degradation limits their opportunities to encounter non-migrants and hinders them from recognising the cultural codes typical for the host community. A purely occasional contact with non-migrants leads to numerous cultural misunderstandings and cultural distrust in the long term. Those migrants who work outside of immigrant niches more easily comprehend cultural differences; as a result, they more effectively adapt in Norway. In the Bourdieu-inspired theoretical framework, I propose to recognise ‘moments of consciousness’ of the habitus as key moments in the reflexive adaptation process, offering a new perspective on habitus change as an element of adaptation to a new socio-cultural working environment.