Demonising 'the other': British Government complicity in the exploitation, social exclusion and vilification of new migrant workers

Wilkinson, Mick

Abstract

This article demonstrates the close and complex connection between the demonisation, exploitation and exclusion of new migrant workers. In so doing, it testifies to the blurred boundaries between the categories of severe labour exploitation, forced labour and slavery. This study highlights the absence of citizenship rights as crucial to understanding the vulnerability to demonisation, exploitation and exclusion that characterises the embodied experience of such workers. It also highlights the key role of citizenship as a means for such workers to make rights claims. In the UK, new migrant workers, particularly those arriving from Eastern Europe since 2004, have been increasingly designated by government and media as interlopers in a tight labour marketplace. Whilst their collective economic contribution is sometimes welcomed, they are regarded as ‘external’ to UK society and citizenship, a potential threat to indigenous values and culture, and in competition with British workers. Rarely are migrants afforded the space in public and private spheres to express their individual needs, wants, cares or perspectives. UK migrants have variously been portrayed by the tabloid media and irresponsible politicians as rapacious opportunists, as benefit scroungers, criminals and potential terrorists. The predominant discourse around new migrant workers in the UK is that they are not citizens, but temporary residents who are expected to work industriously and to remain otherwise unseen and unheard until they return to their country of origin. No further contribution to social and political life is required or expected. It is within such an unsupportive environment that new migrant workers in general, and undocumented migrants in particular, have become highly susceptible to employer and gangmaster abuse and exploitation.

Citation

Wilkinson, M. (2014). Demonising 'the other': British Government complicity in the exploitation, social exclusion and vilification of new migrant workers. Citizenship Studies, 18(5), 499-515. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2014.923702

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 27, 2013
• Online Publication Date: Jul 22, 2014
• Publication Date: 2014
• Deposit Date: Jun 11, 2019
• Journal: Citizenship Studies
• Print ISSN: 1362-1025
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-3593
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 499-515
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2014.923702
• Keywords: New migrants; Forced labour; Citizenship
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1970014
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13621025.2014.923702
• Additional Information: Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=ccst20