#11972. Belonging and its frames: Rural employers boundary construction concerning immigrant employees

October 2026publication date
Proposal available till 03-06-2025
4 total number of authors per manuscript0 $

The title of the journal is available only for the authors who have already paid for
Journal’s subject area:
Sociology and Political Science;
Places in the authors’ list:
place 1place 2place 3place 4
FreeFreeFreeFree
2350 $1200 $1050 $900 $
Contract №11972.1 Contract №11972.2 Contract №11972.3 Contract №11972.4
1 place - free (for sale)
2 place - free (for sale)
3 place - free (for sale)
4 place - free (for sale)

Abstract:
Rural employers can be significant actors in defining who is welcomed to the local community and under which conditions. Despite their importance, however, the role of rural employers in the belonging process of immigrant employees is not widely known. In this study, we focused on the discursive boundaries that rural employers (re)produce when speaking about immigrant employees. The empirical data of our study consists of 35 interviews in small and medium-sized enterprises. We identified three frames within which employers’ carry out boundary work. These frames are dealing with work ethics, workplace rules and local community. We argue that belonging was constructed in these frames ambiguously, and highlight immigrants’ hard-working attitude, cultural discretion and local stability. We also found that the idea of belonging was not built solely on immigrants’ adaptation but that conventional boundaries were also flexible.
Keywords:
Belonging; boundaries; employers; immigrant worker; rural

Contacts :
0