Turkish Immigrants in Poland: Perceptions of Cultural Differences in the Adaptation Process and in the Labor Market

Abstract

This article is about immigrants’ perceptions of their host society and cultural differences. The analysis is based on twenty in-depth interviews conducted in 2018 with persons from Turkey working in Poland. Their narratives are a rich source of information about the challenges of the integration process and about the opportunities and dilemmas of ethnically and religiously diverse groups in Polish society, which is becoming increasingly multicultural. The respondents pointed to the recent noticeable deterioration in the attitude of Poles toward foreigners in general, which translates into more negative attitudes toward Turks. The cultural differences most commonly noticed related to work culture and working conditions. Although Poland’s fairly large ethnic uniformity was mostly declared to be a hindrance in the adaptation process, some immigrants saw it as strengthening social cohesion and facilitating adaptation to life in the new country. In defining the cultural differences and expectations of the host society, the foreigners became more aware of the values, practices, and attitudes with which they had become acquainted. Some interviewees did not define the differences they observed as traits of the sending or receiving society but rather “de-nationalized” the differences and referred to other categories of diversity, for example, of a class nature.