Messy Arrangements?
A Social Networks Perspective on Migrant Labor Brokerage:
The Case of Ukrainian Migration to Poland
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Institute of Law of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Submission date: 2021-12-15
Acceptance date: 2022-08-10
Publication date: 2022-12-12
Polish Sociological Review 2022;220(4):457-484
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
This article draws on two studies conducted between 2016 and 2018 on the nature of labor migration
from Ukraine to Poland. Using quantitative and qualitative data, it analyses the relationship between social
networks and employment agencies. Building on research into migration infrastructure, we question the
dichotomy—which also appears in migrants’ narratives—between migrant social networks and labor brokers, and
offer evidence of overlap and interdependence between the two. Exploring various aspects of labor migration,
we look at the role played by the social networks of the actors (both the migrants and the intermediaries) in
enhancing migration infrastructure. We show how migrants use their social capital in regard to labor brokers and
how the latter, rather than replacing networks, mobilize their network resources and experience to create a trusted
transnational service.
FUNDING
National Science Centre, Poland, grant no 2014/15/D/HS4/01234.