Dynamics of precarity among ‘new migrants’: exploring the worker–capital relation through mobilities and mobility power

ABSTRACT

This article conceptualises the role of mobilities within precarious working and living conditions, drawing on qualitative analysis of interviews (n = 52) and a policy seminar (n = 50) in North-East England. It focuses on refugees, asylum seekers, and Eastern European EU migrants, as policy-constructed groups that have been identified as disproportionately concentrated in precarious work. The article develops three ‘dynamics of precarity’, defined as ‘surplus’, ‘rooted’, and ‘hyper-flexible’, to conceptualise distinct ways of moving that represent significant variations in the form that precarity takes. The article concludes that understanding precarity through mobilities can identify points of connection among today’s increasingly heterogeneous working class.

KEYWORDS:

• Asylum
• refugees
• UK
• precarity
• EU
• migration
• mobility power

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to the project Advisory Board, in particular, the helpful contributions and support throughout by Michal Chantkowski, Georgina Fletcher, Andrew Collins, Irene Hardill and Ian Fitzgerald, and to the many research participants. Thanks are also owed to Gabriella Alberti, Simon Holdaway, Ricky Gee, Sharon Hutchings, and Jenny Phillimore for their comments on earlier drafts, and to the reviewers and editor of Mobilities for their help strengthening the article. Responsibility for any shortcomings is, of course, our own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. EU10 comprises Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania.

2. As defined by policy, ‘refugees’ have been granted leave to remain on the basis of well-founded fears of violence or persecution in their country of origin. Asylum seekers have applied for leave to remain as refugees, but have not yet had this claim accepted by the state.

3. Standing (2011) defines Fordism as a set of labour relations in which workers could reasonably expect to maintain full-time employment with the same employer for a large portion of their lives, with job security backed by powerful trade unions.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust (grant number SG132753); and Northumbria University; and Nottingham Trent University.