The experience of discrimination among newly arrived Poles in Ireland and the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

This paper examines discrimination and early integration among Polish migrants in Ireland and the Netherlands using a new immigrants’ panel survey. Drawing on insights from research on intergroup relations, stereotyping, ethnic competition and Bail’s notion of the salience of racial and cultural boundaries, the paper develops hypotheses about the role of experience in and exposure to the host country, of gender and of country context in migrants’ experience of discrimination. The key finding is higher discrimination among Poles in the Netherlands and a greater increase in discrimination over time, suggesting that perceptions of ethnic competition, negative public debate and ensuing stereotypes about East European migrants are contributing to a more negative experience for Polish migrants in the Netherlands as compared to Ireland.

KEYWORDS:

• Discrimination
• Poles
• new immigrants
• Ireland
• the Netherlands
• SCIP

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the comments of team members of the project ‘Causes and Consequences of Early Socio-Cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe’ and other participants at a workshop in Constance, Germany in November, in particular Patrick Simon.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Note that the number of cases is higher in the first analysis, since all respondents are included, while in the second analysis, only respondents who participated in both waves are included.

2. Around half of the Poles in Ireland had been there for three months or less in Wave 1.

Additional information

Funding

This paper uses data collected as part of the project ‘Causes and Consequences of Early Socio-Cultural Integration Processes among New Immigrants in Europe’, which was funded within the NORFACE Transnational Research Programme (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe).