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Three Small-town livelihoods

Abstract

This chapter discusses how people make a living in contemporary Poland. It explores a range of livelihood strategies available to people without higher education. It considers others assets that can contribute to household livelihoods, such as second jobs and state benefits, to keep with the livelihood strategy approach, as well as main jobs in the legal economy. It concentrates more on local economies as a whole, although without an extensive focus on economic ‘facts’, for example statistics about the availability of local jobs. It explores the perceptions of local people, parents who might be tempted to migrate with their children. It considers interviewees’s negative feelings about their regional and small-town identities. It examines small-town interviewees’ opinions as to whether it was worthwhile to commute or move permanently to cities in Poland. It finally considers complaints about child benefit which emerged as a major theme in conversations both in Poland and the UK.

Abstract

This chapter discusses how people make a living in contemporary Poland. It explores a range of livelihood strategies available to people without higher education. It considers others assets that can contribute to household livelihoods, such as second jobs and state benefits, to keep with the livelihood strategy approach, as well as main jobs in the legal economy. It concentrates more on local economies as a whole, although without an extensive focus on economic ‘facts’, for example statistics about the availability of local jobs. It explores the perceptions of local people, parents who might be tempted to migrate with their children. It considers interviewees’s negative feelings about their regional and small-town identities. It examines small-town interviewees’ opinions as to whether it was worthwhile to commute or move permanently to cities in Poland. It finally considers complaints about child benefit which emerged as a major theme in conversations both in Poland and the UK.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. List of figures and tables iv
  4. Acknowledgements v
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Post-communist Poland: social change and migration 27
  7. Small-town livelihoods 39
  8. Local migration cultures: compulsion and sacrifice 61
  9. Local migration cultures: opportunities and ‘pull factors’ 73
  10. Parental migration with and without children 91
  11. The emotional impact of migration on communities in Poland 115
  12. Integration into British society 137
  13. Being Polish in England 169
  14. Return to Poland 197
  15. Conclusions 225
  16. The interviewees 237
  17. The opinion poll 239
  18. 2001 Census data for Bath, Bristol, Frome and Trowbridge urban areas 241
  19. Bibliography 243
  20. Index 259
Polish families and migration since EU accession
This chapter is in the book Polish families and migration since EU accession
https://doi.org/10.56687/9781847428219-005

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents iii
  3. List of figures and tables iv
  4. Acknowledgements v
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Post-communist Poland: social change and migration 27
  7. Small-town livelihoods 39
  8. Local migration cultures: compulsion and sacrifice 61
  9. Local migration cultures: opportunities and ‘pull factors’ 73
  10. Parental migration with and without children 91
  11. The emotional impact of migration on communities in Poland 115
  12. Integration into British society 137
  13. Being Polish in England 169
  14. Return to Poland 197
  15. Conclusions 225
  16. The interviewees 237
  17. The opinion poll 239
  18. 2001 Census data for Bath, Bristol, Frome and Trowbridge urban areas 241
  19. Bibliography 243
  20. Index 259
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