CEEYouth: The comparative study of Poles and Lithuanians in the context of Brexit

This project will be an interdisciplinary study examining risks faced by young (19 to 34 years of age) Polish and Lithuanian migrants, who migrated to the UK since the 2004 EU enlargement, after the announcement of the results of Brexit Referendum. Moreover, the researchers will analyze the impact of subsequent Brexit consequences on the lives of Poles and Lithuanians, with particular emphasis on changes in the patterns of entering adulthood. The objectives of the project correspond to three main concepts: social anchoring, strategies and risks. The study aim to comparatively asses social anchoring of young Poles and Lithuanians in Great Britain, as well as to compare migrating youth from Poland and Lithuania (movers) with their peers who stayed in their country of origin (stayers). In addition, the project aim to analyze and compare trends in the latest return migration of young Poles and Lithuanians, and if possible to analyze the diversity of migratory behaviors of ethnic Poles and Lithuanians and ethnic Lithuanians from Poland staying in the UK.

The CEEYouth project assumes that the process of Brexit will force people into an institutional limbo creating uncertainty and tensions felt not only by the migrants themselves, but also by their families and friends in Poland and Lithuania, which may have significant influence on the process of their social anchorage. Other possible Brexit effects may include: the revision of ownership rights in the UK and the decrease of migrants’ trust in education, health care and the welfare state as systems guaranteeing basic needs. Moreover, the project assumes the disruption of the process of human capital accumulation (as a compensation for post-communism societies), decrease of self-esteem and self-confidence of migrants, as well as closing a way back to the country of origin to Lithuanians who were granted British citizenship.

Researchers identified some practical research assumptions according to which young migrants will use all institutional instruments, including applying for the status of a resident or citizenship, to stay in the UK for as long as possible. Migrants will also increase their efforts in the economic sphere to avoid ‘drifting’ in the labor market and will strive to improve their competences and raise their qualifications. In addition, young migrants may begin to formalize mixed partnerships or they may decide to return to the country of their origin or to a country other than the sending country.

The study will be conducted with a mix-methods approach. Researchers will conduct a comparative analysis of data mainly from Labor Force Survey, but also from other available sources. During the project the researchers will use an innovative qualitative research based on asynchronous interviews with 50 migrants for the period of two years. The interview will allow to collect data in a dynamic and longitudinal perspective. Another research method will be a Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) conducted in native languages of migrants. This survey will allow researchers to reach young migrants from Poland and Lithuania who live in Great Britain, as well as the recent return migrants. The study involves a total of 600 interviews, 300 with migrants from Poland and Lithuania, of which 50 to 100 return migrants are to be included in the sample.

This study examines social changes in the making, as the consequences of the Brexit Referendum vote are still unraveling. Studies of the impact of the Referendum on the lives of young Poles and Lithuanians appear for the first time. The internationally published project results will allow to understand the actions taken by young migrants and will help to predict their life transitions, as well as develop new interdisciplinary fields of youth and migration studies.