Denying Discrimination: Status, 'Race', and the Whitening of Britain's New Europeans

There is mounting evidence to suggest that East European migrants in the UK have been victims of discrimination. Reports of pay gaps point to the possibility of structural discrimination, restrictions on employment operate as a kind of legal discrimination, and politicians and the media have constru...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnic and migration studies 2015-04, Vol.41 (5), p.729-748
Main Authors: Fox, Jon E., Moroşanu, Laura, Szilassy, Eszter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Disadvantaged
Discrimination
Discrimination Discourses
East European Migration
Employment
Employment discrimination
Europe
European cultural groups
Income inequality
Legal aspects
Mass media
Media
Migrants
Migration
Negotiation
Politicians
Race
Racialisation
Racism
Social classes
Social status
Status
Threat
United Kingdom
Values
Victims
Whiteness
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Summary:There is mounting evidence to suggest that East European migrants in the UK have been victims of discrimination. Reports of pay gaps point to the possibility of structural discrimination, restrictions on employment operate as a kind of legal discrimination, and politicians and the media have constructed East European migrants as different and at times threatening. The Hungarians and Romanians we spoke with in Bristol also reported some discrimination, albeit in ways that deflected its racialised connotations. But they also denied that they were victims of discrimination. Why would the supposed victims of discrimination deny discrimination? We argue they did this to attenuate, and potentially reverse, the status degradations they suffered as disadvantaged and at times racialised labour migrants in Britain. We examine two discursive strategies they employed to negotiate this higher status. First, they claimed a higher social class status by embracing the meritocratic values of the dominant class. Second, they claimed a higher racial status by emphasising their whiteness and Europeanness. These were discursive attempts to reposition themselves more favourably in Britain's racialised status hierarchies.
ISSN:1369-183X
1469-9451
DOI:10.1080/1369183X.2014.962491