Pole position
Posted by tomfromthepost on December 3, 2007
And just to start off, just something interesting that caught my eye while working last week on this article about migrant workers. As my colleague Rhona Ganguly points out in a top post on her community relations blog, there are a lot of misconceptions and prejudices about the 125,000-odd migrant workers in the West Midlands. So it’s nice to see some positive views of migrant groups crop up from time to time.
According to this recent study (which has far far too many interesting points to bring up here), Polish workers are so much in demand for their industriousness and reliability, that migrants from other new European countries like the Czech Republic and Romania are actually pretending to be from Poland to increase their chances of getting a job. (p147)
Obviously a positive stereotype then? But does it help Polish people to be pigeonholed like this, even if it is for something good?
December 9, 2007 at 5:15 pm
[...] after having seen a previous blog entry here. They pay particular entry to what I was talking about here, Czechs and Romanians pretending to be Polish to improve their chances of getting a job in the [...]
January 7, 2008 at 10:50 am
But does it help Polish people to be pigeonholed like this, even if it is for something good?
As a Brit abroad, let me tell you that the positive stereotype people have of Brits is massively beneficial - a real door-opener. The stories of mayhem and crime on British streets is putting this at risk.
January 7, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Interesting, what is the stereotype of the brit abroad in Eastern Europe? Good to hear it’s positive, had no idea. Would have thought the number of stag dos and the like heading out to Prague for cheap booze wouldn’t be the best way to be introduced to British culture…