Proliferation of borders along migrant pathways to citizenship (inclusion) and conflict (exclusion)

The study explores inclusion in and exclusion from citizenship of migrant workers in three new immigrant destinations: Northern Ireland, Scotland and Poland. The investigation is driven by the three research questions. First of all, how do experiences of inclusion and exclusion in receiving countries interact with migrants’ pre-migration experiences of inclusion and exclusion? In answering this question, the research explores how different aspects of citizenship - citizenship as exercise of civil, political and social rights; emotional citizenship (Ho 2009) and citizenship as membership in a community of value (Anderson 2013) - interact. Thus, it strives at contributing to the literature on citizenship by bringing these different conceptualizations into a more integrated model. The third research question focuses on the role of local contexts of reception in shaping the above interactions. The study makes several contributions to existing theory and literature. First of all, it further develops Anderson’s (2013) concept of community of value by exploring it from the bottom-up perspective of experiencing individuals and innovatively using emotions of shame and pride (Scheff 2000; 2003) as probes. Secondly, it adds to the literature on migration by exploring how pre-migration inclusion and exclusion impacts on inclusion and exclusion in a receiving country as well as by underscoring the role of emotion in migration processes more broadly. Thirdly, it contributes to sociological literature on shame by exploring its role in migration and citizenship. The role of work and employment occupies a prominent role in the entire analysis. In this way and also drawing on Sennett’s (2004) analysis of liberal and neoliberal discourses on citizenship, adulthood and dependence, the study suggests ways in which changing political economy context in Europe (flexibilisation, deregulation of the labour market, growing labour market insecurities, and neoliberal welfare state reforms) may be making the experience of shame more widespread.