ENCOUNTERING FORMS OF CO-ETHNIC RELATIONS: POLISH COMMUNITY IN GLASGOW

This study is aimed at exploring the dynamics of EU post accession Polish communities’ formation within the Glasgow area. In particular, it will concentrate on an analysis of the meaning of ‘community’ among groups of post accessed Polish migrants living and working in Glasgow and how this varies in relation to gender, age, and social class and other social divisions, including internal structures of marginalization and feelings of trust or distrust. It suggests that Polish migrants do not constitute a single migration community in Glasgow but a range of diverse personal communities that can be understood as a range of dense, relative autonomous relations that vary in terms of trust, obligation, and strength. As such, the Polish migrants maintain close and dense co-ethnic ties with specific groups of friends and family members simultaneously distinguishing them from the general, ethnic Polish community in Glasgow which was perceived as competitive and threatening.