The economic,social and ontological security of Polish post-accession migrants in popular media narratives

Introduction

Since 1 May 2004, the date Poland became the member of European Union, we have witnessed the significant outflow of Polish citizens from the country resulting in around 1.5 million migrants leaving for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Sweden and other European countries. Within 10 years, the so-called post-accession migration was to become a process which is a part of the social consciousness, a process experienced en masse. A total of 10 years has brought to light many narratives on migrants’ life trajectories, careers, family life, ethnic relations and integration patterns within host societies. The media (the press, TV, the Internet) have played a vital role in providing a set of various generalizations, assumptions and clichés on what it means to be a migrant and what are the socio-cultural and economic implications of leaving one’s country of origin.

One cannot forget that recent migration is the continuation of a history of emigration from Poland, one lasting over one and a half century. The literature on Polish migration is extensive and begins with the classic work of William I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki published between 1918 and 1920 (Thomas and Znaniecki, 1927) illuminating the lives of around 2 million Poles who emigrated to America between 1880 and 1910. The foundations of Polish migration studies have been laid by scholars who continued Znaniecki’s work and published before, and just after, World War II: Józef Chałasiński (1935), Krystyna Duda-Dziewierz (1938), Stefan Nowakowski (1959), Jerzy Zubrzycki (1953) and Danuta Mostwin (1980). Post-war settlement and emigration patterns from Poland during the troubled period of the communist regime (between 1945 and 1989) have been described in the concise historical work of Dariusz Stola (2010). The author, in analysing statistics and historical documents, proves that paradoxically the Iron Curtain was not as hermetic as one might think, something illustrated by the significant number of emigrants at several moments in this period of Polish history. The late 1980s is the period of ‘Solidarity migration’ – the outflow of political migrants to Western Europe and the United States. The number and dynamics of this stream of migration is comparable to post-accession migration. The late 1990s is the period of an institutionalization of migration studies in Poland during which scholars seek to explain the phenomena of various kinds of migratory patterns during the transformation process from a communist to a democratic country. The period after 2004 is marked by the process of researchers’ merging into a European network of scholars. The leading institution in this process is the Centre for Migration Research in Warsaw with its head – Marek Okólski (2012), and young researchers, Izabela Grabowska-Lusińska (2009, 2012), Paweł Kaczmarczyk (2014), Magdalena Lesińska (2014) and others. The Centre integrates many Polish scholars, Krystyna Slany (2005), Dorota Praszałowicz (2012), Dariusz Niedźwiedzki (2010), Romuald Jończy (2003), and Michał P Garapich (2012), and operates within the largest Europe’s network of scholars – International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion (Ecole de Modélisation Informatique des Systèmes Complexes Ecologiques (EMISCOE)). Present-day Polish migration studies, especially relating to the post-accession period, take the transnational perspective as the main paradigm exploring various aspects of mobility: family life, care provision, migrants’ careers, immigration policies, cultural identity, integration and settlement, the effects of migration (depopulation, economic and social remittances) and – last but not least – the representations and media narratives on migration.

A presentation of an extensive subject literature on media and migration exceeds the size of the article. However, a few recent works ought to be mentioned within the context of media representations on Polish migration. The first one is the volume ‘European Cinema after the Wall. Screening East-West Mobility’ edited by Leen Engleen and Van Heuckelom (2013) which has brought together essays that critically examine cinema representations of post-1989 migration from the former Eastern Bloc to Western Europe. Another work is the volume edited by Joanna Rostek and Dirk Uffelmann on contemporary migrant culture and literature consisting of essays examining narratives on migration to Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom (2011). Studies on Internet discourses and narratives can be found in the work by Aleksandra Golasińska (2010). Representations of post-accession migration in Polish weekly magazines have been discussed in the work of Mariusz Dzięglewski (2013).

Tensions between the Stranger and the Homecomer – theoretical background and methodology

In this article, we take a phenomenological stand as a theoretical framework to analyse the context of media narratives as one of the potential sources of an inter-subjective common knowledge on migration. According to Alfred Schütz (2012), we shall study the way an individual provides the meaning to some of his experiences (pp. 17–56). This process is inter-subjective; hence, it is negotiated through the communication practices with other social actors. Therefore, an individual’s knowledge of the migration process is not private, but it is constituted as the intentional structure of meaning which is shared by the members of a given society. That kind of common knowledge is based on categorization and typization (Berger and Luckmann, 1966). Soap operas, docu-soaps are just some examples of TV productions which provide a certain kind of the typization and categorization essential in the production of common knowledge. Texts in the form of TV news, weekly magazine articles, website services circulate between actors, constantly providing sets of signs which are being interpreted and negotiated by the active audience to produce the structure of meaning (Creeber, 2001).

In our study, we provide an answer to the question: what are the main generalizations on migrants’ economic, social and ontological security in mediatized narratives? We make use of two metaphorical figures discussed by Alfred Schütz (1944): the Stranger and the Homecomer (1945). The migrant becomes the Stranger in relation to the group/local community/the whole of the society they live in. On the other hand, whenever they want to come back home – even for a short holiday break – they return to a world which intentionally should be ‘home’ but the Homecomer can hardly recognize it as such. The migrant’s situation can be therefore seen as one of dramatic and paradoxical tension.

In our study, we concentrate on the tension between the Homecomer and the Stranger attitude in migrants’ trajectories as potentially the main source of the feeling of insecurity. We look at the way migrants’ experience of security is represented in media narratives. We understand security in a wide sense as the individual’s socio-psychological state in which their needs are fulfilled to a satisfactory point at least in relation to three dimensions. The first one is the economic security related to employment, security of resources and properties and living conditions. The second one is the social security related to belonging and identity (the relation to the host and home country, diaspora, love, family). The third dimension is the ontological security related to esteem and self-actualization (confidence, morality, creativity).

The empirical data in our study comes from a content and narrative analysis of two Polish TV productions about post-accession migration from Poland: the docu-soap ‘Wyjechani’ (‘The Leavers’) and the soap opera ‘Londyńczycy’ (‘The Londoners’). These are two out of three Polish productions (the third one is ‘Bitwa o Anglię’) to have been broadcast on state Polish television within the last 10 years. The first one was broadcast in 2006, the year of the most intense outflow from Poland, and the second one, between 2008 and 2009, in the period of economic crisis in Western countries. The docu-soap ‘Wyjechani’ consists of 33 episodes, while the soap opera ‘Londyńczycy’ comprises 29 episodes.

In the docu-soap ‘Wyjechani’, the cameraman follows the steps of individuals or more rarely, migrant families. The aim of the series is to register the ‘real’ experiences of migrants from the very beginning of their stay abroad and present them in the convention of a human interest story. The migrants come from various parts of Poland, represent various occupations, education levels and ages. They stay in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands. We can see migrants in all of their everyday situations: at home, at work, with friends and family members. Migrants tell us about their everyday experiences, plans and expectations.

The soap opera ‘Londyńczycy’ covers the experiences of several fictional Polish migrant characters who decided to move to London. The new ‘Londoners’ come from various parts of Poland, backgrounds and represent various occupations (an electrician, nurse, general operative, financial adviser, entrepreneur). The characters represent three diverse streams of outflow from Poland: post-war migration, ‘Solidarity migration’ and the post-accession migration. Some of them live in the same neighbourhood. What make the characters similar is their belonging to the same ethnic group and the same situation of living an immigrant life in a new socio-cultural environment. The very nature of the soap opera is its focus on family and love affairs. The characters’ life paths criss-cross within a typical migratory environment.

In our study, we pose a thesis that the very situation of migration is depicted as the process in which migrants experience insecurity – at least in one of the three dimensions: the economic, social or ontological. We pose three more specific questions to verify this hypothesis. First of all, we wanted to discover what was the economic situation of the characters in their own eyes in relation to: the standard of living in Poland and abroad, employment, working conditions and social mobility. The second important question is the socio-cultural situation of the characters. To answer this question, we focused on the representations of family life and social relations (social capital), collective identity and belonging (relations to their own ethnic group and diaspora, the relation to the host society). The last question refers to the ontological security of characters. In relation to this dimension of security, we focused on representations of the system of values, self-esteem, confidence, self-agency and the attitudes of migrant characters.

Schütz’s figures, ones that date back to the late 1940s, have not been consequently applied to the study of the migrant situation and its popular media representations. In our article, we restore ‘old’ concepts and apply them to the ‘new’ context, as having a potential for in-depth analysis. In doing so, we consciously challenge the popular transnational paradigm as the one which can be used to explain the migratory process of a relatively insignificant number of migrants, identifying themselves in terms of ‘transnational identity’.

The basic analytical unit in our research has been the narrative of the life trajectory of the character presented in the series. We identified 43 characters in ‘Wyjechani’ and 16 characters in ‘Londyńczycy’. The research covered two stages: content analysis of audio transcripts and narrative analysis of audio-visual footage. The textual transcripts and audio-visual footage have been divided into parts relating to each of 59 characters, so that they might be analysed as a separate narrative about each character. In the content analysis of the transcripts, we used a coding frame constructed on the basis of the research questions presented above. All 59 ‘stories’ have been coded with the use of QDA Miner software and then each code has been analysed separately. The analysis has included the correspondence between codes and variables: migrant’s age, educational level, position in a social structure and occupation. In the second stage of the research, we used a simple framework for note taking while watching the series, which allowed us to retrace the sequence of turning points in a character’s life trajectory.

Economic safety of migrants’ characters

Surprisingly, most of the individuals presented in ‘Wyjechani’, in answering the question about their decision to migrate, do not mention economic factors. The largest number of migrants point to factors connected with their individual development or lifestyle. Quite a few characters mention the need for a ‘new life’ abroad especially after a traumatic experience such as divorce or splitting up. A few characters left Poland in search of lifestyle changes, a passion for other cultures and personal development. Their economic situation in Poland is seen as stable, and some migrants even underline the fact that they have had quite a good job in Poland and their material status was more than satisfactory.

The second group of migrants are those whose economic situation was not stable in Poland or they found living conditions in their home country not satisfactory. One can find individuals who were employed in Poland, but their income was seen as insufficient for a ‘decent living’. Only a few migrants were unemployed. Migrants argue that they cannot make a living in Poland, especially to provide basic goods and services for their families, not to mention any savings for larger investments such as home renovation and decoration. In the first group are mainly young, well-educated single individuals, whereas in the second group they are mainly older, less educated, and with families. The accent on economic instability in Poland is more exposed in the life trajectories of the characters from ‘Londyńczycy’. They mainly come from families which are situated at the bottom of the social stratification ladder. The characters can see no job opportunities or perspectives for bettering their economic status in Poland. Migration from Poland is quite often seen by those from ‘Wyjechani’ as a source of economic stability, especially in comparison to the economic situation in Poland. One of the characters says,

If you work in Poland, you could not feel such an ease. Here, one can feel the ease. You are given wages every week. As a matter of fact, we don’t worry what’s gonna happen tomorrow. I feel secure, I know there is some money in our account, I know we are not lacking. We can afford to go out to a restaurant for dinner, go out to have a pint of beer. In fact we don’t care how much this or that is. I think, in Poland, in Poland we didn’t often have such a feeling of security. (Jarek, Ireland, ‘Wyjechani’)

The feeling of economic stability depends strongly on the position one takes within a social structure and one’s family status. In some cases, the economic situation allows the migrant to lead a life of luxury (Tomek – single, the owner of a business in London), in some cases working abroad allows for merely very modest living conditions not that different than those in Poland. The economic stability abroad depends strongly on the employment status and working conditions. In Magda’s narrative, working abroad does not provide enough money for any savings. Workers who are employed on full-time contracts with all the social benefits can enjoy economic stability whereas all the individuals who work part-time are quite often the object of exploitation and unfair practices in the ‘3D’ sector (Dirty, Dangerous, Demeaning).

The narrative analysis of ‘Londyńczycy’ reveals one more significant issue referring to economic stability. The soap opera, which is a perfect example of an ‘American Dream’ reproduction, represents characters who run their own businesses but their economic situation is never ever stable due to global economic trends. Darek – the owner of a construction company in London – at some point faces bankruptcy simply because of the global economic crisis.

In the TV series, we can recognize four types of migrant ¹ career trajectories: U-shaped upward mobility, high-skilled professional, ‘American Dream’ career and socio-economic degradation. The U-shaped upward mobility is typical for young and relatively well-educated individuals. The first job in a host country means sometimes dramatic downward mobility seen as an essential price for better opportunities in the future. Błażej – a character from ‘Wyjechani’ – a graduate from an Academy of Arts takes up the position of a general operative on a construction site, then works as a cleaner to finally become a set designer in the Italian movie industry. In all cases, the very fact of having work below one’s qualifications is not really seen as social degradation. The characters treat this period as an essential time to learn the language, acquire new skills and the cultural competences essential to find a better job – one appropriate to their education and aspirations. Most of the characters in this category are lucky with finding such a job. They change their jobs quite often within a short period of time. Marcin – a lawyer describes this practice in the following words:

I, in my lifetime, have been an English teacher, I’m an interpreter, I have worked as a security guard, I have worked at a construction site for three months, I … I was a door-to-door salesman, I have done a million various things in my life. Each time this is simply going from one place to another, a new challenge. I cannot imagine myself in one, in five-years time as a person who is fully qualified, having a certificate, a diploma on the wall, being a lawyer and not having anything more … (Marcin, Ireland, ‘Wyjechani’)

The career of a highly skilled professional is quite different. The individuals leave Poland with a signed contract and obtain a similar position to the one held at home. This group includes highly skilled jobs such as medical staff, managers, drivers, electricians. In the case of Grzegorz from ‘Wyjechani’, who lost his job as a manager in Poland, he signed a contract for the same position in Bolton. The same career path is represented by Ewa – a nurse, and Wiesio – an electrician from ‘Londyńczycy’. The objective lack of vertical mobility is seen as specific upward mobility by the TV characters. Ewa as a nurse working in a British hospital enjoys better working conditions and pay. She enjoys a completely different work culture and salary, which allows her and her family to enjoy ‘decent living’ conditions and for her to develop personally. In contrast, she associates working as a nurse in Poland with patriarchal relations, stress, long working hours and salaries below a socially accepted standard.

The ‘American Dream’ type of career is a specific type of upward mobility and a dominant pattern in ‘Londyńczycy’ (Rostek, 2011). What differs this type of career from the skilled professional one is the spectacular scope between its beginning and ending point. The ‘American Dream’ myth requires characters who are on the bottom rung of the social ladder, ones who, thanks to their hard work, dedication and individual skills, reach the highest. Such an ideal of meritocracy is realized in the careers of the main ‘Londyńczycy’ characters: Paweł and Andrzej. Paweł had worked as a kitchen porter with no English and no money for many years. At the same time he was saving money for his studies, had learnt the language, graduated and began his work in the financial sector to finally became a deputy head of one of the biggest financial companies in the City.

The dominant career trajectory in both TV series is optimistic, associated with gradual (not especially linear) upward mobility – bettering living conditions and acquiring economic stability. However, in both series some characters are employed in low-paid, temporary, manual and difficult jobs, ones quite often beneath their qualifications. This kind of job is especially predestined for the unfair practices of employers and exploitation. Magda from the ‘Wyjechani’ series describes her working conditions as follows:

[reading the employment agreement] Working hours: the agreement for flexible working hours is the prerequisite for employment. The employee has to be available at any time, every day including holidays. It might be even work at night […] 24-hour-availability […] I couldn’t have a rest at home once tired or prepare dinner … I had to go back to work. That’s it. (Magda, the United Kingdom, ‘Wyjechani’)

In both TV series, there are characters who are homeless. Andrzej, 41 years old, from ‘Wyjechani’, who used to be the owner of his own construction company, a married man with a child, lives on the streets of London. He can see his situation as miserable and wants to change it. The reason why he ended up on the street is his alcohol addiction. His story is a typical representation of the downward mobility type of career. The characters who experience social degradation are mainly those who cannot leave the ‘3D’ job sector or have personal difficulties (addiction, depression, etc.).

Social security of migrants’ characters

In our study, we address the issue of social security with the use of four analytical categories: migrants’ relations to their family and friends; social network/social capital (see Granovetter 1983, 2005; Putnam, 2000); relation to one’s own ethnic group/diaspora; and finally, relations to members of the host societies. Family life is crucial to understand complex migrant feelings of security, especially in the context of Polish culture which is family-centred. At the top of the characters’ narratives are stories about family break-ups or spouse/children long-lasting separation. The press debate on migration (Dzięglewski, 2013) represents migration as a source of divorce/break-ups and the trauma of those left behind, the so-called ‘Euroorphans’. The motif of break-ups is present within the TV series narratives but in a different context. The characters’ marriages quite often break up in Poland. Characters go abroad to begin their ‘new life’. Magda from the ‘Wyjechani’ series explains,

I divorced my husband. I had no job, I lived with him, so I was left without an apartment and then I left for Ireland … (Magda, Ireland, ‘Wyjechani’)

In this case, migration is just one of the life strategies to start anew – the result and not the cause of marriage break-up. What is interesting, migration as a life strategy after the traumatic experience of breaking up, is mainly chosen by women (Pustułka, 2012; Urbańska, 2009). A ‘new life’ means a life which is meaningful, completely different than the one left behind, one which should be forgotten as soon as possible.

In some cases, the characters go abroad together with their partners and the situation of migration is seen as a specific ‘test’ of the strength of emotional ties and bonds. Some of the couples, especially the not formalized ones, split up. Living in another socio-cultural environment, away from the pressure of one’s closest family and friends, results in the challenge of new perspectives for the couples. The most difficult situation in the maintenance of the family ties is long-lasting separation between family members. On the one hand, the TV series characters use all the technological means of communication to be constantly in touch with their family in Poland. On the other hand, they intuitively feel that they are losing something being physically away from their loved ones. They recognize long-lasting separation as a fear. Janusz, who left his children and wife, explains,

So, I have two children, Łukasz, he is … in August he will be 12, Marysia – 7. We want to go through it with my wife smoothly. Łukasz, certainly, he asks: Daddy, how are you? how is life? how is it at your work? how is your job? is it hard? So, from our chat … I can’t see … So, I can’t touch him, talk, cuddle. But, as we chat on the phone, I can see his fears. Despite everything that happens here, all my life – job, cooking, cleaning, meetings with friends, attending church, all this time they [the family] participate in my life. They are not physically here with me, but they are present all the time. (Janusz, the United Kingdom, ‘Wyjechani’)

However far away the migrants are, they make an incredible effort to maintain strong relationship with their families at home through communicators, visits, financial and emotional support. Only in the case of homeless migrants, is migration presented as a source of family break-up. Those characters who migrated with the whole family are the most fortunate. Wife, husband/partner, children are quite often a haven in a new socio-cultural environment. Thanks to their extended family, the sisters Elżbieta and Renata (‘Wyjechani’) can run their family business in Ireland.

The family patterns represented in ‘Londyńczycy’ can be seen as fabularized narratives of the migrants presented in the ‘Wyjechani’ series. Among the characters in this TV series, one can find couples who split up after only a few months spent abroad (Asia and Wojtek; Andrzej and Kinga), a young woman who escapes from her psychopath husband and wants to begin a ‘new life’ abroad (Kasia), and an electrician who left his wife in Poland to earn money for their house. At the very core of the migrant family media debate we can find the narrative of Ewa and Marcin and their son – Staszek. Ewa – a nurse – left Poland in search of a better income for her family, but in London she fell in love with a doctor, Zayed. Marcin – her husband, a school teacher – comes to London with Staszek but finds it difficult to adapt to his new status as a manual worker in the junk-job sector and finally decides to come back to Poland. Staszek lives both in Poland and in the United Kingdom, where he finally settles down with his mother. Living in two different worlds leads to marriage break-up, but both parents make an incredible effort to maintain a strong, close relationship with their son – Staszek. Such a narrative on migrants’ children differs a lot from the press debate in which one can find dramatized ‘pictures’ of migrant mothers leaving their children in orphanages (Dzięglewski, 2013; Richter, 2012).

The characters who cannot count on family support more often talk about stress connected with the new social environment, cultural barriers, alienation and a longing for their home country. Janusz who left his family in Poland discusses it in a few words:

I think that migration changes your life. Loneliness, a horrible emptiness around you. (Janusz, the United Kingdom, ‘Wyjechani’)

The feeling of social security can be analysed in relation to the notion of social capital understood as a network of social relations, trust and the norm of reciprocity. Strong and weak ties (Granovetter 1983, 2005) support the individuals to take their first steps in the new environment. More than one-third of the characters presented in ‘Wyjechani’ enjoy the extensive support of their brothers, sisters, cousins or colleagues who have already lived abroad. The support includes: shelter, food and practical information on how to deal with basic difficulties in the new environment: searching for a job, the tax system, social benefits and so on. The social network minimizes the risk connected with migration and running a business. The characters presented in the series develop their social network through the maintaining of existing, and the setting up of new relations with other Polish migrants, foreign migrants and (less often) members of the host society. In a few cases, they use the phrase ‘a big family’ to call the group of interrelated individuals they are close to. Some of the characters from the ‘Wyjechani’ series build up their social capital through active participation in diasporic institutions such as a Polish parish (Joanna and Grzegorz), the media (Tomek, Arek), societies or simply by organizing events for Polish migrants such as concerts, literary contests and so on (Kamila and Magda in Austria).

The fabularized characters from ‘Londyńczycy’ build up their social capital mainly among other Polish migrants. The life trajectory of Andrzej is a specific example of spectacular success in the accumulation of social capital. Andrzej, a successful businessman, tries to cooperate with other Polish migrants, quite often becoming a mediator between two competing businessmen (Jamal vs Besiak). Andrzej represents the interests of the Polish community in public meetings and finally becomes the Polish representative for the London district of Ealing.

Another aspect of social security in a new environment is the characters’ relations towards their co-ethnics. In most cases, these relationships are friendly. Characters from ‘Wyjechani’ provide many examples of the support they received from other Polish migrants. They enjoy meetings in Polish groups and they find other co-ethnics very helpful. On the one hand, the characters sometimes repeat the myth of the Polish conman (Garapich, 2012); on the other hand, their own experience is contrary to this assumption. So, talking about Polish migrants in general, the characters will sometimes use the Polish conman cliché whereas talking about their own experience they would mainly see their co-ethnics as friendly and helpful. The declaration is not in line with real experience. Positive relations between Polish migrants are dominant in ‘Londyńczycy’ as well. In both series, there are a few narratives on unfair practices between Polish migrants, but they are incidental and are not that dramatized as the narratives about ‘work camps’ or trafficking in Polish weekly magazines (Dzięglewski, 2013).

While meeting up within a small group of Polish migrants is very popular, the migrants’ opinion on the Polish diaspora is ambivalent. Some of the characters from ‘Wyjechani’, especially from small towns (Sebastian and Kasia in Cornwall), point to the lack of unity and solidarity among Polish migrants. These divisions among Polish migrants are highlighted in the specific historical context of migration to the United Kingdom in ‘Londyńczycy’. These deep differences between a few streams of Polish migrants can be traced in the discussion between Paweł – a young, successful financial adviser and Maria’s father, who arrived to the United Kingdom in the late 1980s:

Another aspect of the feeling of social security are the relationships between Polish migrants and the non-Polish (immigrants from other countries and the local population). In both TV series, these relationships are described in positive terms. The characters from ‘Wyjechani’ find the locals very friendly, open-minded, helpful and tolerant. Characters declare they make an effort to integrate and socialize with the locals. They find them open to such an integration. Interestingly enough, migrants talk about competition between Poles and locals at work, in social life in general terms referring to Polish migrants as a whole. The same tendency is visible in narratives about cases of racism, conflict and negative opinions about Poles in circulation among the indigenous population. Migrants in their narratives use clichés such as ‘Polish people are seen by the Dutch as unintelligent, manual workers drinking vodka’, ‘Irish women worry about their husbands and are jealous of Polish women’. These kinds of narratives are not the result of the migrants’ own experiences; they are just the generalizations existing among Polish migrants. Relations between the Polish and local characters in ‘Londyńczycy’ are mainly presented as strong (Peter and Darek) or very strong (Tim Owens and Ewa) ties of friendships and love. There are rather more cases – than in ‘Wyjechani’ – of migrant exploitation on the part of local employers. Asia is cheated by DJ Beatle – a popular musician, who seduces her and steals her design project. The head of the hospital where Ewa works as a nurse tries to assign responsibility to Ewa for his professional mistake. In ‘Londyńczycy’, situations of tension and conflict between Poles and Britons are mainly the result of the stereotypical image of Poles among British people.

Ontological security of migrants

In our search for the indexes of ontological security, we examined the narratives of the TV series in reference to information about migrants’ self-esteem, confidence, self-agency, achievement as well as their system of values and self-actualization. One of the indexes of a high self-esteem and confidence profile is an individual’s feeling of self-agency. This aspect is very important in TV series narratives. Many characters from ‘Wyjechani’ are determined, dedicated and goal-oriented people with strong feeling that things depend on them. Such an attitude can be traced in Edyta’s words:

In my opinion, if you want something you will get it. It will take more or less time, energy, dedication, work, usually more work, patience, dedication. But if you really want something you will get it and that’s ninety nine point nine percent going to happen. (Edyta, the United Kingdom, ‘Wyjechani’)

Migrants undertake ambitious tasks like setting up their own business (Renata, Elżbieta), the project for a Polish radio station (Arek), travel around the world (Magda) and strongly believe that the achievement of their goals is just the matter of hard work and time. Some characters say that there is nothing that they cannot achieve. The characters’ life trajectory is full of barriers which can be overcome if they will be determined enough.

In ‘Londyńczycy’, a strong feeling of self-agency is represented in the life trajectory of Andrzej – a representation of the ‘American Dream’ myth and that of a middle-class ethos (Domański, 1999; Palska, 2008). Despite serious difficulties, a lack of money, an irresponsible business partner and economic crisis, Andrzej develops his business step by step. He does not rely on anybody in his activities, and he makes risky decisions with the strong belief that things depend only on his determination and a consistent approach. In contrast to the confident and ambitious characters, there are examples in both TV series of migrants who feel that they have lost control over their life. These are the homeless Andrzej, Romek (‘Wyjechani’) and Doktor (‘Londyńczycy’). They are alcoholics who cannot free themselves from their addictions.

Most of the characters in both series are successful in their careers. They enjoy a good job which allows them to lead a ‘decent life’ but what is much more important – they accumulate cultural capital which is seen as a great achievement. The main forms of accumulated cultural capital abroad are language, professional competences and skills, knowledge about foreign behavioural patterns and culture, and the development of personal hobbies and passions (see Bourdieu, 1986, 1990). Language is key in a new environment; migrants learn the second language on systematic courses and during everyday conversation with locals. The level of language skills differs among migrants. Whatever level of language skills the characters have achieved, they are all critical of the ‘other’ Polish migrants living in the ‘Polish ghetto’.

Another form of cultural capital are professional skills and competences. The characters from ‘Wyjechani’ and ‘Londyńczycy’ are aware that they have to learn a lot to be professional. Marcin, a lawyer, undertakes a part-time job to develop new skills even though he is already a graduate; Asia is excited to take up an extra course to become a professional make-up artist. One more form of cultural capital is the knowledge of different behavioural patterns and culture. Migrants find some cultural patterns strange and shocking, but after some time they get used to them.

While the attitudes of the migrants in ‘Wyjechani’ towards their new cultural environment are ambivalent, those in ‘Londyńczycy’ quite easily learn the British way of life of their counterparts. This tendency can be traced in the democratic way of conversational informality (the form of address ‘you’), the convention of learnt ease in relation to others, smart casual dress and some elements of local celebrations like stag parties.

What seems to be a dominant trait in migrants’ narratives is the broad scope of their creativity. On achieving a stable economic situation, migrants gradually engage in innovative projects connected with their passions and goals, such as charity activities for children in Africa (Kamila, Magda), a photo-blog (Jarek and Alicja), individual photo projects (Anna), their own business (Renata and Elżbieta), the ‘Polish Professionals’ project for migrants arriving in the Netherlands (Magda), or cultural events for Polish migrants (Kamila). Quite often migrants assume that they are able to do abroad things which would be difficult to realize in Poland.

At the core of the migrants’ ontological security is the continuity of an individual’s value system hierarchy and sense of identity. The key to analysis of the value system in the case of the migrants presented in the TV series could have at its basis the dichotomy of traditional versus post-material values (Dzięglewski, 2010; Inglehart, 1990). This dichotomy helps us to understand the division between the two TV series. The activities and opinions of ‘Londyńczycy’ lead us to the conclusion that their main values are personal development, self-actualization, economic success and individualism whereas the migrants presented in ‘Wyjechani’ are much more traditional. They put the family at the very top of the values scale. The migrants presented in ‘Wyjechani’ declare such values to be home (understood as a family and homeland), the Catholic faith, children, patriotism, Polish celebrations (Christmas traditions). Sławek – a manual worker from the United Kingdom – relates to the historical context of Polish migration and the romantic tradition of the Polish wanderer. He is emotionally attracted to national symbols and history:

Sławek to his daughter Patrycja: Your Daddy will show you the Eagle, this is the Polish emblem, isn’t it? Look at the gate, here Poles did this. They have been living here for many years, do you know? I will take you in my arms so that you can see. Can you see this writing: ‘The long way home’, isn’ it? It means ‘to Poland’, doesn’t it? We are in England now. So, you can see, somebody was in longing here. He was longing for Poland, wasn’t he? [Reading the text on the gate] ‘This gate is dedicated to the Polish community in Leek, Staffordshire and Moorlands. After the Second World War many Polish settled down in this region, many have chosen settlement, others were forced to do so’. (Sławek, the United Kingdom, ‘Wyjechani’)

Despite the openness towards members of the host society and their culture, migrants make an effort to cultivate traditional Polish customs, especially those connected to the rituals and celebrations of Christmas Eve and Easter. Migrants in ‘Wyjechani’ openly talk about their faith and engagement in the local parish, which is very important in their everyday life. However traditional values such as the family are important for ‘Londyńczycy’, the main characters’ value system can be more post-materialist than the one of the migrants presented in ‘Wyjechani’. Individualism and self-actualization are the most important in Andrzej, Paweł and Asia’s careers. Surprisingly, the spiritual dimension of the migrants’ life is not presented at all. A Polish church is shown as a place of meeting between Wojtek and a passport forger, who is leaving the church after a Sunday service.

The sense of identity is the most important issue in the migrants’ feeling of ontological security. Although most of the characters identify themselves as Polish they more or less subconsciously feel the division between ‘us’ – Polish migrants, and ‘them’ – Polish non-migrants. The identity of migrants who decided to settle down in a host country where they have spent more than 5 years (Piotr, Magda, Roksana, Błażej from ‘Wyjechani’, Asia and Andrzej from ‘Londyńczycy’) can be seen as a specific hybrid. The migrants quite easily switch cultural codes on and off and exist simultaneously in two worlds. The situation of those who want to return to the home country is paradoxical. They do not feel part of the host society but at the same time they feel strange among their countrymen back in Poland. The paradox of the Homecomer (Schütz, 1945) is put expressis verbis in Magda’s narrative (‘Wyjechani’):

I don’t feel as if I am at home but in Poland I don’t feel at home either. (Magda, Austria, ‘Wyjechani’)

The TV series ‘Wyjechani’, produced in 2006, traces the first years of Polish post-accession migrants abroad. There is no scenario for Homecomers in these TV series. Most of the migrants declare, however, their willingness to come back; they have just assumptions and hunches that their future in Poland might be difficult. Their hunches are based on feelings of alienation experienced during short holiday visits to Poland. That is why many migrants do not want to declare their willingness to return and represent an attitude of ‘intentional unpredictability’ (Eade et al. 2007).

The ‘Londyńczycy’ series, produced in 2008/2009, includes narratives of returns. Two of the main characters – Paweł and Maria – return to Poland with an impressive amount of economic and cultural capital. They invest their money in a factory in Łódź. The business is based on an innovative solution of a Polish academic. The narrative is constructed in a typical ‘happy-end’ convention.

Conclusion

The analysis of the empirical material allowed us to verify as true the main thesis posed in the article: the very situation of migration is depicted in popular media narratives as the process during which migrants experience economic, social or ontological insecurity. The migration process through the lens of popular media narratives can be compared to a game with winners and losers. The ones who achieved a good job abroad, high economic status maintained their relationships with their family, friends, members of the host society and non-migrants in Poland, the ones who foster their self-agency, successfully settle down or come back home with no Homecomer experience, are the winners. Do such characters exist in media narratives? Of course, they do not. All of them experience the feeling of insecurity at least in one dimension. Having been successful in their professional career as the individual realizing their American Dream (Paweł from ‘Londyńczycy’) they bear the stigma of alienation and loosened, if not – broken, ties with the Polish community. Therefore, multi-dimensional narratives are centred around the constant balance of costs and benefits for individual in the ‘migratory game’. Such a balance (e.g. economic stability as a benefit and social insecurity as a cost) is presented in the characters’ own auto-reflective statements or left in the form of hints for the interpretation of active readers.

The migratory game is always presented as risky but very attractive. The prize to be won is a new life at ‘decent’ economic standards; involvement both in the network of local people and co-ethnics and the realization of one’s passions, hobbies and dreams. The dominant tone of the narratives on migrants’ careers is positive. The U-shaped upward mobility, high-skilled professional and American Dream careers dominate over the narratives on economic and social marginalization and degradation. Therefore, the audience can see migrants who, even if working below their qualifications, at the end of the day succeed in their goals. Even if characters’ economic status never provides for 100% security, the proper full-contract job with all its social benefits, allows them a ‘decent living’, in contrast to the migrants’ situation in Poland. The cases of those who were not lucky enough to obtain a proper job and who work in the ‘3D’ sector with no social benefits are presented as an example of the risk any migrant has to take into consideration. Migrant characters who end up on the street as homeless and unemployed are presented as those who did not make use of all the opportunities available abroad, as those whose situation is the result of their own inability and lack of determination.

Social and ontological insecurity are usually the price paid for achieving economic goals. In media narratives, migration is a specific test for the strength of family ties. Migration might lead to a weakening of family ties but more often the weak ties are the reason for migration and the urge for a ‘new life’.

The unquestioned benefits of migration seen through the lens of the TV series are the feeling of self-agency, confidence, individual development, creativity and self-actualization. All these aspects of ontological security might be achieved at the expense of social security or – in some cases – economic security. The ontological security depends on the migrant’s decision to return to the home country, settle down in the host country or lack of decision (‘intentional unpredictability’). The most insecure are those who are not able to decide on their future and shut out any definitive steps. The only scenario of homecoming as presented in the narrative of Paweł and Maria from ‘Londyńczycy’ does not bring any insight into the troubled re-adaptation process. But the Homecomer paradox comes through all those parts of narratives in which the characters refer to their short, holiday visits to the home country. During these visits, they experience the feeling of being ‘out of place’ even if they realized they were supposed to be ‘at home’.

If we compare the narratives of the TV series to those from weekly magazines we notice one significant regularity. The narratives on migration focused on the individual, micro perspective are quite positive, presenting migration as risky, costly but generally advantageous for the individual. The narratives focused on the mezzo (local) or macro (whole society) aspects of migration are generally negative – presenting migration as a threat for Poland, causing depopulation, a brain drain and gaps in the labour market. This regularity explains why the TV series narratives which focus on the individual life trajectories are more positive and in some cases (e.g. the issue of family break-ups) challenge the generalizations which come from weekly magazine articles. The TV series and weekly magazines are various means of media communication having different aims and a different target audience. One can expect that popular media narratives would have a bigger impact on the process of constructing the common knowledge on migration, but this is a question for prospective researchers.