GLARUS Global Labour in Rural Societies

• Andersson, Mette & Rye, Johan Fredrik (2023). Gray Racialization of White Immigrants: The Polish Worker in Norway. Nordic Journal of Migration Research. 13(2). doi: 10.33134/njmr.475. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The literature on racialization has typically focused on the situation of people of color in the Western world. In this article, we explore the analytical value of extending the concept of racialization to analyze symbolic boundaries that rely on and fortify the ascription of the specific skills and identities of white immigrants. The discussion builds on a review of the emerging literature on Polish immigrants in Norway since 2004. It reveals other everyday experiences of Poles and how they see themselves – and how others see them – differently compared to Norwegians and other immigrants and minorities. We examine how these processes of identity ascription are rooted in the Poles’ position as ‘labor migrants’ in predominantly low-waged and low-skilled segments of the Norwegian labor market. We also demonstrate how their location in the productive structure has far-reaching implications that work to construct symbolic boundaries, setting the Polish migrant apart from mainstream Norwegian society. The conclusion suggests a modified racialization concept, ‘gray racialization’, to conceptualize the discriminatory situation of the Poles as an immigrant and minority population, which we find to better allow for an understanding of power relations and social inequalities than its conceptual alternatives.

• Scott, Sam; Jakobsen, Thomas Sætre; Rye, Johan Fredrik & Visser, M Anne (2022). Labour migration, precarious work and liminality. Work in the Global Economy. 2(1), p. 27–45. doi: 10.1332/273241721X16471891313746. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Liminality, as originally conceived by anthropologists, is a temporary ‘in-between’ state that acts as a bridge, connecting old roles to new roles, and resulting in a desired new state. The article applies this concept to precarious migrant work. We argue, specifically, that migrants in low-wage and insecure work occupy four main liminal realms following their cross-border mobility: the temporal, the financial, the social and the legal. We explore these four realms using qualitative interview evidence (36 interviews) from comparative research with migrant workers, migrant employers and community stakeholders in Norway and the UK. The article then reflects on the balance between liminality (as a positive, temporary and in-between state) and limbo (as a negative, long-term state). We argue that migrants doing precarious work avoid limbo, but at the same time do not experience liminality as originally conceived. Instead, they experience what we term ‘ambiguous liminality’: where precarious work is encountered as liminal, but where the exact mechanisms and pathways leading to a desired new state are multiple, uncertain and incremental. Liminality, however ambiguous, is a vital expression of migrant agency; but it also serves the interests of capital too: masking the negatives associated with precarious work and helping to underpin precarious migrants’ work ethic.

• Slettebak, Marie Holm & Rye, Johan Fredrik (2022). Social (Im)mobility in Low-skilled and Low-wage Immigrant Niches. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. 12(4), p. 23–47. doi: 10.18291/njwls.132265. Full text in Research Archive
• Fiałkowska, Kamila; Matuszczyk, Kamil & Szulecka, Monika (2022). Agricultural exceptionalism, migrant farmworkers and the pandemic – Evidence from Poland as a new immigrant destination country. Estudios Geograficos. ISSN 0014-1496. 83. Full text in Research Archive
• O'Reilly, Karen & Scott, Sam (2022). 'Harvest work, migration, and the structured phenomenology of time'. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. ISSN 1369-183X. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2022.2116565. Full text in Research Archive
• Scott, Sam & Rye, Johan Fredrik (2021). Praised, prized, yet penalised: A critical examination of low-wage hiring queues in the global strawberry industry. Journal of Rural Studies. ISSN 0743-0167. 88, p. 473–481. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.04.014. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Employers often have preferences with respect to workers based on group-level characteristics including geographical origin, gender, class, race, age, family status, appearance, etc. These ‘hiring queues’ can shape recruitment and promotion decisions and explain why certain characteristics may be more or less common within a workplace and across a sector. Drawing on one rural industry known in particular for low-wage and seasonal employment – the strawberry industry – this paper compares employer hiring queues in the US, Norway and UK. We find variety in the hierarchies that employers construct: US, Norwegian and UK strawberry growers recruit their low-wage workers from different nationalities. However, the underlying basis for these hiring queues appears to be the same across study contexts in that they are predominantly contingent upon geographical variables – mobility, nationality and ethnicity – to identify who are seen by employers as the most attractive low-wage seasonal workers. Migrants from more peripheral economies are consistently preferred above local workers and farmers employ mobility, nationality and ethnicity as short-hand for ‘good’ workers. We find that employers articulate what we refer to as ‘informed stereotypes’ that are connected, albeit selectively, to the political, economic, social and legal context(s) within which labour power is produced, reproduced and activated.

• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2021). De transnasjonale arbeiderne. In Ljunggren, Jørn & Hansen, Marianne Nordli (Ed.), Arbeiderklassen. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202646240. p. 145–162. Full text in Research Archive
• Stachowski, Jakub & Rasmussen, Bente (2021). Når hjemme er borte og borte hjemme: fortellinger om lokalintegreringens komplekse dynamikk. In Gullikstad, Berit; Kristensen, Guro Korsnes & Sætermo, Turid Fånes (Ed.), Fortellinger om integrering i norske lokalsamfunn. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215042954. p. 156–179. doi: 10.18261/9788215042961-2021-07. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Etter EU-utvidelsene i 2004 og 2007 kom arbeidsinnvandrere fra Øst- og Sentral-Europa til Norge og bosatte seg i norske distriktskommuner. Kapitlet utforsker integreringsprosessene i rurale områder basert på dybdeanalyse av migrasjonshistorien til en polsk familie bosatt i en kystkommune. Det viser hvordan «vellykket» integrering i lokalsamfunnet er et resultat av komplekse forhandlingsprosesser som foregår både lokalt og translokalt. Kapitlet illustrerer hvordan innvandreres tilknytning skapes gjennom en stabil posisjon på arbeidsmarkedet, meningsfulle sosiale relasjoner med lokale beboere og translokale familiepraksiser. Det å høre hjemme på stedet man kommer til, forutsetter engasjement både fra de som kommer, og de som allerede bor der, men også av innvandrernes evne til å opprettholde forbindelsene med familien i hjemlandet. Funnene viser at innvandreres engasjement i lokalsamfunnet er en sentral komponent i integreringen, viktigere enn deres etnisitet eller nasjonalitet.

• Stachowski, Jakub & Rasmussen, Bente (2021). From Valued Stayers to Working Hands? The Social Consequences of Changing Employment Relations Among Polish Migrants in Farmed Salmon Industry in Rural Norway. European Countryside. 13(3). doi: 10.2478/euco-2021-0015. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  International migrant workers in European rural regions have supplied rural industries with necessary labour, stimulated the demography of host communities and raised questions about the inclusion of migrants. Using the case of Polish post-accession migrants employed in the farmed salmon industry in rural Norway, we explore the social consequences of changing employment relations in rural industries. By using a temporal perspective, we identify a transition from an inclusive employment regime experienced by the migrants who arrived in the locality within the first years after the EU enlargement in 2004, to an increasingly exploitative, insecure and competitive work environment for recently arrived migrants. We emphasise how employment conditions offered to different ‘waves’ of migrants affect the ways they perceive their status and value in rural hosting communities. Ultimately, we reflect on the potential long-term consequences of international migration to rural areas.

• Stachowski, Jakub & Bock, Bettina (2021). Unsettled settlement? Translocal social anchoring and patterns of (im)mobility among Polish families in rural Norway. Geoforum. ISSN 0016-7185. 126, p. 372–382. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2021.09.001. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Whilst the transnational family life of post-accession intra-European migrants has been extensively explored, past studies have rarely addressed its local dimension. The relatively recent international migration patterns to rural areas in Europe provide opportunities to explore this particular aspect. Drawing on ethnographic data from Polish migrant families and young couples in rural Norway, we investigate the relationship between the settlement of the migrants in a specific rural locality and the dynamic of their cross-border and cross-local patterns of mobility. Using notions of translocalism and social anchoring, the article offers insights into how migrants' lives as couples and families become gradually reoriented as they settle in the rural host context and how the conditions for maintaining family relationships in Poland change at the same time. We illustrate how migrants' search for stability in their lives in the host location is associated with the question of family reunion, their position on the local labour market, purchase of houses and development of place attachment. At the same time, the settlement process breeds ambivalence as it requires migrants to adjust to the new life setting and continually navigate and negotiate the family life across home and host context. The ability of migrants to organise their translocal life satisfactorily depends on and reflects their overall level of integration locally and nationally.

• Slettebak, Marie Holm (2020). Labour migration and increasing inequality in Norway. Acta Sociologica. ISSN 0001-6993. p. 1–17. doi: 10.1177/0001699320930261. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Slettebak, Marie Holm (2020). The new geography of labour migration: EU11 migrants in rural Norway. Journal of Rural Studies. ISSN 0743-0167. 75, p. 125–131. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.01.014. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Historically, immigration to Western countries has been an urban phenomenon, but in recent decades, larger immigrant populations have also arrived in rural destinations. In this paper, we address the dynamics of inbound flows and geographical distribution of labour migrants within rural regions: While some rural localities have received large numbers of migrants, others have seen just a few. Specifically, we explore the case of Eastern and Central European labour migrants (EU11 countries) travelling to Norway's rural regions following the EU enlargements in 2004, 2007 and 2013. Which factors explain the spatial distribution of EU11 labour migrants in Norway's rural regions? We evaluate three assumptions in the extant literature – that labour migrant inflows are related to labour market characteristics, demographic profiles and localities' degree of peripherality. Norwegian register data at municipality levels are employed to estimate a regression model for how these characteristics impact sizes of EU11 labour migrant populations in rural municipalities. Finding show that EU11 migrants are found where the most labour-intensive rural industries dominate; industry-particularly fish processing industry, agriculture and the hospitality sector. Further, they reside in areas with higher unemployment and few refugees. Lastly, we find that the rural municipalities that struggles the most with depopulation has not received the relatively largest number of labour migrant, as EU11 migrants are more often found in the more demographically viable rural communities.

• Stachowski, Jakub (2020). Processes of socio-spatial exposures and isolations among Polish labour migrants in rural Norway: Exploring social integration as a lived experience. European Urban and Regional Studies. ISSN 0969-7764. 27(4), p. 379–397. doi: 10.1177/0969776420930758. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The recent significant inflow of international migrants into rural areas in Europe has raised questions about the integration of migrants into the rural host localities. Amidst the growing literature, there are, however, few comprehensive analyses of processes of migrants’ social integration. Drawing on the lived experience of Polish migrants in a rural area in Norway and applying the theoretical framework of social exposures, the article illustrates the important role of the migrants’ position on the local labour market, the socio-demographics of the receiving locality and the material and geographical properties of the area for the dynamics of their social integration. Findings show how migrants’ desires to engage in migrant/non-migrant relationships are challenged by the increasingly ethnically divided local labour market, amidst growing migration to the location and by the geographical structure of the locality. The changing and intersecting character of those domains fosters conditions that promote primarily social exposure of the migrants to their own co-ethnics, isolating them from the local community. At the same time, the study illustrates that mutual engagement of the migrants and the local inhabitants, as well as having children, play a significant role in diversifying migrants’ local social contacts.

• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Scott, Sam (2020). Agricultural employers’ representation and rationalisation of their work offer. In Rye, Johan Fredrik & O'Reilly, Karen (Ed.), International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003022367. p. 141–158. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Emerging in the throes of a global pandemic that threatens Europe’s economies and food security, International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions combines a diverse range of empirically rich, in-depth case studies, analysis of their rural context specificities, and insights from labour market and migration theories, to critically examine the conditions and implications of rural labour migration. Despite its growing political, economic and social importance, our understanding of international labour migration to Europe’s rural regions remains limited. This edited volume provides intricate descriptions of lived experience, critical theoretical analyses, analytical synthesis, and policy recommendations for this novel and developing phenomenon that has the potential to transform the lives of international migrants and local communities. The book’s 25 authors represent a wide range of social science disciplines, with coverage of a vast range of Europe’s rural regions, and diverse types of rural labour in areas such as horticulture, shepherding, wild berry picking and fish processing. The volume will be of interest to policy makers at local, regional, national and European levels, and scholars and students in a broad range of areas, including migration, labour markets, and rural studies.

• Slettebak, Marie Holm (2020). Does international labour migration affect internal mobility in rural Norway? In Rye, Johan Fredrik & O'Reilly, Karen (Ed.), International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003022367. p. 175–192. doi: 10.4324/9781003022367. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Since the enlargement of the European Union, which began in 2004, large numbers of international labour migrants have arrived and settled in Norway. Also, many rural areas, previously unfamiliar with international migration, have received many labour migrants. These migrants, who are mainly low-skilled workers from eastern Europe, are now overrepresented in many rural industries, such as agriculture, fish processing and the hospitality industries. The large body of literature discussing the impact of international migration on native-born workers is mostly focused on wages, employment, and other outcomes related to social mobility. This chapter examines effect on geographic mobility, which has been paid less attention to in the literature. Some studies suggest that immigration reduces natives’ net migration, however overall research provides conflicting results. Using Norwegian panel data regression with municipal-level register data from 2005 to 2015, I analyse whether international labour migration to rural areas has had any effect on the mobility patterns of Norwegian-born people in rural Norway. The results show a weak and not significant effect of international labour migration on Norwegian-born workers’ mobility patterns. Labour migrants appears to expand the labour market rather than displace Norwegian-born workers. Since labour migrants are adding to the population, without affecting the mobility of Norwegian-born people, they can be regarded as much needed ‘demographic refill’ for rural areas previously struggling with depopulation.

• Stachowski, Jakub & Fialkowska, Kamila (2020). ‘Living on the edge’? A comparative study of processes of marginalisation among Polish migrants in rural Germany and Norway. In Rye, Johan Fredrik & O'Reilly, Karen (Ed.), International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003022367. p. 105–120. doi: 10.4324/9781003022367. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter explores comparatively two cases of Polish labour migration in two different national and rural contexts of migration. We draw on ethnographic data from two projects which respectively looked at a once widely popular seasonal migration by Polish workers in German agriculture, and a more recent non-seasonal migration to the Norwegian salmon industry following the 2004 European Union enlargement. We demonstrate that in both instances Polish migrants are located at the margins of the receiving rural communities, and we illustrate how their position is shaped by the interplay of structural factors and agency of the migrants. We identify working arrangements as playing a pivotal role in shaping the marginalisation of migrants. At the same, taking account of migrants’ agency enables us to grasp how they effectively counterbalance their underprivileged positions through concrete practices and rationalisations of their situation.

• Rye, Johan Fredrik & O'Reilly, Karen (2020). New perspectives on international labour migration to Europe’s rural regions. In Rye, Johan Fredrik & O'Reilly, Karen (Ed.), International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003022367. p. 3–21. doi: 10.4324/9781003022367. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  While international migration to urban spaces has been extensively studied, there remain significant gaps in our understanding of international labour migration to Europe’s rural regions. In this chapter we locate this phenomenon within the wider, historical, and structural context, clarify key conceptual issues, and argue for a coherent multiscalar and multidimensional approach to the field, where the ongoing outcomes of labour migration emerge out of the interaction between everyday practices of actors and the dynamics of local, regional, national, European and global societal structures. A review of existing literature on international labour migration to rural regions identifies five main strands that together allow for portraying such a multifaceted picture of the very diverse phenomenon of international labour migration to Europe’s rural regions. Based on the insights from this literature, we show how the individual chapters of the edited volume together provide invaluable knowledge about the international labour migration phenomenon and its transformative powers in rural industries and rural society. The chapter concludes by identifying new directions for the scientific study of rural labour migration and policy challenges for the development of sustainable migration practices that could enhance the lives of migrants and locals in Europe’s rural regions.

• O'Reilly, Karen & Rye, Johan Fredrik (2020). The (re)production of the exploitative nature of rural migrant labour in Europe. In Rye, Johan Fredrik & O'Reilly, Karen (Ed.), International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003022367. p. 228–245. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Emerging in the throes of a global pandemic that threatens Europe’s economies and food security, International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions combines a diverse range of empirically rich, in-depth case studies, analysis of their rural context specificities, and insights from labour market and migration theories, to critically examine the conditions and implications of rural labour migration. Despite its growing political, economic and social importance, our understanding of international labour migration to Europe’s rural regions remains limited. This edited volume provides intricate descriptions of lived experience, critical theoretical analyses, analytical synthesis, and policy recommendations for this novel and developing phenomenon that has the potential to transform the lives of international migrants and local communities. The book’s 25 authors represent a wide range of social science disciplines, with coverage of a vast range of Europe’s rural regions, and diverse types of rural labour in areas such as horticulture, shepherding, wild berry picking and fish processing. The volume will be of interest to policy makers at local, regional, national and European levels, and scholars and students in a broad range of areas, including migration, labour markets, and rural studies.

• Stachowski, Jakub (2020). Positioning in ‘relational claustrophobia’- ethical reflections on researching small international migrant communities in rural areas. Journal of Rural Studies. ISSN 0743-0167. 78, p. 176–184. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2020.06.001. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2018). Transnational spaces of class: International migrants? multilocal, inconsistent and instable class positions. Current Sociology. ISSN 0011-3921. 67(1), p. 27–46. doi: 10.1177/0011392118793676. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The sociological study of class, whether Marxist, Weberian or Bourdieusian, has discussed class systems and individuals’ location in these systems within the framework of the nation-state and has largely ignored the presence of a growing population of international migrants in western societies. At the same time, the emerging literature on transnational migration has largely neglected the question of social class. This article argues that the simultaneous privileging of the nation-state and the neglect of social class by these research traditions, respectively, has been unfortunate. Working from a Bourdieusian class perspective, the article discusses how today’s enhanced international migration – whereby actors regularly cross national borders, physically and virtually, and live their everyday lives in multiple social spaces and class systems – produces class systems in which many actors hold multilocal, inconsistent and instable class identities. The discussion employs a mixed methods approach, drawing material from a community in Norway which includes a large population of Eastern European labour migrants recruited by the fish processing industry, to illustrate some key problems with Bourdieusian (and other) class theories’ use of methodological nationalism as an analytical framework and to suggest how transnational theories might better incorporate class perspectives in their analyses.

• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Scott, Sam (2018). International Labour Migration and Food Production in Rural Europe: A Review of the Evidence. Sociologia Ruralis. ISSN 0038-0199. 58(4), p. 928–952. doi: 10.1111/soru.12208. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Since Hoggart and Mendoza's article on ‘African immigrant workers in Spanish agriculture’ in Sociologia Ruralis in 1999 there has been a proliferation of interest in labour migration to/in rural Europe. It is now clear that the rural realm has been, and is being, transformed by immigration, and that low‐wage migrant workers in the food production industry are playing a particularly prominent role in this transformation. This article takes stock of the literature and identifies seven key issues associated with low‐wage labour migration, contemporary food production, and rural change. Most notably, since the 1990s, there has been growing demand for migrants in the segmented, and sometimes exploitative, labour markets of the European food production industries. This demand has been met across a variety of contexts, with states and labour market intermediaries playing a largely supportive role. However, migrants’ integration into rural communities has often been problematic, with the emphasis being on the need for, rather than needs of, low‐wage migrant workers.

• Rye, Johan Fredrik; Slettebak, Marie Holm & Bjørkhaug, Hilde (2018). From Family to Domestic and Global Labour? A Decade of Proletarisation of Labour in the Norwegian Horticulture Industry. European Countryside. 10(4), p. 528–542. doi: 10.2478/euco-2018-0030. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper analyses the profound structural transformations that took place in Norway's horticulture industry between 1999 and 2010. The aggregate industrial outputs from the industry remained stable in this period. However, the number of horticulture farms dropped by 40.5% and the remaining farms became accordingly larger. We analyse how this development was related to changing labour strategies on Norwegian farms during this period, in part affected by labour market deregulation following the EU enlargements in 2004 and 2007. The analysis utilises Agricultural Census data covering the full population of horticulture farms in Norway in 1999 (N=5,105) and all farms in the country in 2010 (N=46,624, of which 3036 now were horticulture farms). Results suggest that the enhanced availability of inexpensive and flexible global labour is strongly associated with a stepwise proletarisation of Norwegian horticulture. Family labour is being systematically replaced by wage labour and domestic workers are being replaced by lowwage migrant workers.

• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2017). Labour migrants and rural change: The “mobility transformation” of Hitra/Frøya, Norway, 2005–2015. Journal of Rural Studies. ISSN 0743-0167. 64, p. 189–199. doi: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.12.003. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  After the 2004 and 2007 EU enlargements, large numbers of Eastern European labour migrants settled in rural destinations in Western Europe where they predominantly found low-skilled manual labour jobs in rural industries. These labour migrants differ from other types of rural migrants (e.g., domestic in- and out-migrants, lifestyle and amenity migrants, international refugees and asylum seekers) and represent distinct challenges and opportunities for the host rural communities—for example in terms of novel forms of social inequalities and cultural diversities. This paper discusses the dynamics of transnational labour mobilities and their consequences for rural Europe by investigating the case of the Hitra/Frøya community, until recently a traditionalist rural community in Mid-Norway. As a result of large-scale labour migration, over the last decade the region has developed into a genuine high-mobility, transnational rural community and is now characterised by its heterogeneous social fabric. From the local elites’ perspective, which seems to have hegemonic status in the region, the transformation is a successful, triple-win situation: The community at large develops a more sustainable economy and sees population growth and reduced social problems, the locals enjoy the boosted economy and its many benefits, and the in-migrants escape economic austerity in their homelands and are successfully integrated into their host communities. However, stories told by labour migrants provide important nuances to the narrative of success and suggest processes of social fragmentation, polarisation, and contestation. The paper demonstrates how contemporary forms of rural mobilities may confront the traditional structures of rural societies, generate novel social divides and multi-local identities and everyday practices. Methodologically, the paper employs a mixed-methods approach and analyses a variety of materials: statistical materials, public documents, interviews with key informants in the local rural community, and in-depth individual interviews and focus group sessions with migrants.

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• Rye, Johan Fredrik & O'Reilly, Karen (2020). International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions. Routledge. ISBN 9781003022367. 274 p. doi: 10.4324/9781003022367. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Emerging in the throes of a global pandemic that threatens Europe’s economies and food security, International Labour Migration to Europe’s Rural Regions combines a diverse range of empirically rich, in-depth case studies, analysis of their rural context specificities, and insights from labour market and migration theories, to critically examine the conditions and implications of rural labour migration. Despite its growing political, economic and social importance, our understanding of international labour migration to Europe’s rural regions remains limited. This edited volume provides intricate descriptions of lived experience, critical theoretical analyses, analytical synthesis, and policy recommendations for this novel and developing phenomenon that has the potential to transform the lives of international migrants and local communities. The book’s 25 authors represent a wide range of social science disciplines, with coverage of a vast range of Europe’s rural regions, and diverse types of rural labour in areas such as horticulture, shepherding, wild berry picking and fish processing. The volume will be of interest to policy makers at local, regional, national and European levels, and scholars and students in a broad range of areas, including migration, labour markets, and rural studies.

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• Kjelaas, Irmelin; Gullikstad, Berit; Penner, Angelina; Sætermo, Turid Fånes & Stachowski, Jakub (2021). Boklansering: Fortellinger om integrering i norske lokalsamfunn. [Internet]. Litteraturhuset i Trondheim. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2021). Covid-19 and migrant workers in Norway’s agricultural industries. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2021). Migrants at work: Precariousness, liminality and exploitative labour practices. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2021). Er det over og ut for den trønderske jordbæra? Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2021). Intra-European labour migration and non-standard employment careers. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2021). Migrant farm workers’ health, safety and working conditions. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2019). Røtter eller føtter? Sosiologiske stedsperspektiver. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2019). International Labour Migration. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Slettebak, Marie Holm (2019). Varieties of integration. Local communities’ reception of labour migrants. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Scott, Sam (2019). ’Doing the right thing’: Agricultural employers’ rationalisation of their low-wage work opportunities for international labour migrant. Full text in Research Archive
• Stachowski, Jakub (2018). “Settling down in the countryside- Polish families in ‘New Immigrant Destinations’ in Norway”. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Scott, Sam (2017). International labour migration to/in rural Europe: a review of the evidence. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2017). Recognizing changed migration patterns. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Scott, Sam (2017). International labour migration to/in rural Europe: a review of the evidence. Full text in Research Archive
• Stachowski, Jakub & Rye, Johan Fredrik (2017). The transnational rural other – reconsidering the idea of otherness in rural studies. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik & Scott, Sam (2017). International labour migration to/in rural Europe. Full text in Research Archive
• Rye, Johan Fredrik (2022). Labour migration to rural Norway. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet. ISSN 9788232659555. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Utvidelsen av den Europeiske Unionen, som inkluderte mange av de postkommunistiske landene i Øst-Europa, markerte begynnelsen på en ny æra i norsk migrasjonshistorie. Etter 2004 økte arbeidsinnvandringen til Norge raskt, og polakker ble den største innvandrergruppen i Norge. De nye migrantene har også vist seg å ha et annerledes bosetningsmønster, da de oftere bosetter seg utenfor de store byene. Rurale områder har nå en relativt større andel arbeidsinnvandrere enn urbane områder. Arbeidsinnvandrernes ankomst har ført til bekymringer om negative konsekvenser for arbeidsmarkedet, slik som økende sosial ulikhet. Samtidig, fra et ruralt perspektiv, ser noen på arbeidsinnvandring som en mulig løsning på problemet med avfolking i rurale kommuner. Denne avhandlingen utforsker arbeidsinnvandringen til det rurale Norge og konsekvensene for det rurale arbeidsmarkedet og samfunnet. Kvantitative register data brukes til å svare på en rekke spørsmål: Hva er karakteristisk for rurale kommuner med en stor andel arbeidsinnvandrere? Har arbeidsinnvandring forårsaket økende inntektsulikhet i rurale (og urbane) kommuner? Er arbeidsinnvandrere «fastlåst» i «innvandrernisjer» (slik som fiskeforedlingsindustrien) eller har de muligheter for oppadgående sosial mobilitet, sammenlignet med norskfødte arbeidere og andre innvandrere? Funnene viser at arbeidsinnvandrere oftere bosetter seg i de mer «levedyktige» rurale kommunene – ikke i de rurale områdene som sliter mest med avfolking. Det avgjørende er imidlertid arbeidsmarkedets egenskaper: Arbeidsinnvandrere bosetter seg der det tilbys jobber i visse lavt-lønnede næringer. Arbeidere i en slik næring, fiskeforedlingsindustrien, blir studert over tid, og et tydelig mobilitetshierarki blir avdekket: Nordmenn forlater i størst grad næringen og finner seg bedre jobber, arbeidsinnvandrere blir oftere værende i næringen, mens andre innvandrere oftere faller utenfor arbeidsmarkedet. De ulike mobilitetsmønstrene forsterker etnisk ulikhet i arbeidsmarkedet. Arbeidsinnvandring etterfølges av økende inntektsulikhet generelt. I rurale kommuner påvirkes også inntektsulikheten innad i den norskfødte befolkningen. Effekten er allikevel ikke spesielt stor, noe som tyder på at norskfødte og arbeidsinnvandrere i hovedsak arbeider i ulike segmenter av arbeidsmarkedet og i ulike typer jobber. Alt i alt er konklusjonen at økende arbeidsinnvandring har ført til mer ulikhet på landsbygda i Norge, men effekten på den gjennomsnittlige nordmann er relativt liten. Hva angår rural avfolking, argumenterer jeg for at løsningen på problemet finnes i arbeidsmarkedet og ikke i innvandring i seg selv.

• Stachowski, Jakub; Rye, Johan Fredrik & Bock, Bettina (2021). To be or to belong? Processes of (g)localised integration among Polish migrants in rural Norway. Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet. ISSN 9788232652143. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sammendrag I de siste årene har mange rurale områder i Europa blitt et mål for et betydelig antall internasjonale innvandrere. For noen områder har dette vært et nytt fenomen som har generert mange spørsmål om blant annet integrering av innvandrerne i rurale kontekster. Denne avhandlingen bidrar med ny kunnskap om det som kjennetegner integreringsprosesser av innvandrerne på disse stedene. Avhandlingen bygger på et kvalitativt datamateriale samlet blant polske arbeidsinnvandrere som har kommet til et ruralt kystområde i Norge etter EU-utvidelsen i 2004 for å jobbe i den lokale oppdrettslakseindustrien. Avhandlingen tar utgangspunkt i deres opplevelser, perspektiver, praksiser, refleksjoner og strategier for å kaste lys på dynamikken av integreringsprosesser i ikke-urbane kontekster. Avhandlingen belyser en rekke lokale forhold som fasiliterer eller hindrer innvandrernes tilknytting til lokalsamfunnet slik som stedets geografiske kvaliteter, struktur ved det lokale arbeidsmarkedet, konsentrasjon av mange innvandrere på samme arbeidsplass, endrende arbeidsforhold, men også omfanget av innvandringen til lokaliteten og den sosio-demografiske endringen den utløser. Samtidig viser avhandlingen at innvandrerne er kapable aktører som bosetter seg, engasjerer seg i hjembyggingspraksiser og skaper mening rundt livene sine. I tillegg viser avhandlingen at den lokale mottagelseskonteksten ikke er statisk, men endrer seg med tid og skaper ulike integreringsforhold for innvandrere som kommer til lokaliteten på ulike tidspunkter. Mens analysene i avhandlingen legger stor vekt på lokale integreringsforhold kobles disse mot prosesser som finner sted utenfor lokaliteten. Ekspansjon av lakseindustrien fra en lokal til global aktør, migrasjonsregimer og migrasjonspolitikk, og ikke minst innvandrernes utstrakte aktivitet på tvers av nasjonale grenser, former den lokale integreringsdynamikken. Funnene i avhandlingen teoretiseres som ‘(g)lokaliserte integreringsprosesser’ som er ment å fange opp hvordan lokalt forankrede forhold for integrering preges og formes av et samspill mellom forhold og prosesser som utspiller seg utenfor den konkrete lokaliteten.

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